I finally got to take some Quiet Time away from all that is happening this Christmas, so I opened God’s Words to Hebrews 10. I have been “stuck” in Hebrews for awhile. The longer I stay, the more my Helper touches my heart and shows me something new. I have read these words many times. This is the book that helped bring me out of literal HELL… the Denomination in which Claudia and I were brought up as children, of which we were the 4th Generation of each of our family: Seventh-day Adventism.

As SDAs we were always aware of our many sins, as the 10 Commandments were our self-appointed “Covenant” with God. We didn’t realize we were living out the very thing Paul wrote about especially in the letter to the Galatians, and in his treatise to the Hebrews. We were desperate. We were hopeless, yet we were taught to keep “obeying” those Commandments. We never could. We would wear smiles on our face, yet carried despair in our heart. This only heaped the hopelessness upon us. Many of us threw up our hands in utter defeat, and purposely added to the sins since there was NO hope, anyway, and Death was our Master!

Jesus? To an SDA? When we accepted Him as the Savior of our lives, He did a good job of covering our past sins, but it was OUR job to work out our salvation after that. We MUST become perfect before Jesus came, again, so we could go with Him. If we were not perfect in EVERY way, we would be left behind. The more we tried, the more we saw it was not possible, yet, the obvious never occurred to any of us… No Matter What Happens, No Matter What We Have Been Taught: BELIEVE GOD’S WORDS!

When my Helper touched my heart and opened my eyes, I gasped, as I realized what this “Covenant” with God was all about. Paul called it a “New Covenant”. The BIG Mystery God held secret for so long is that we Gentiles have always been sooo loved by God, and He had US in mind, along with the Jews. From the very beginning the plan was for us to become reunited with God and His Kingdom. To become Sons and Daughters along with the Jews!

Honestly, it seemed too incredible to be real. Satan kept reminding me of my sins, and of course I would listen more than I should have. Just BELIEVE and each and every one of my horrible sins would be instantly forgotten, and I would be clean and accepted wholeheartedly by God as one of His Sons? God didn’t require any payment from us for such an offer? It sounded like a call from a stock broker: “You just can’t pass up this deal. This is the deal of deals. Look, I have hidden it for a long time, but I have brought it out now, so you can make a fortune. You HAVE to buy this one. You would be NUTS to pass this up.”

No Stock Broker. No requirement of any RIGHTEOUS acts. He didn’t require any beating our chest in anguish or harmful mutilating of our body in repentance. We didn’t even have to promise to go to church every week and join a Home Group. Not even a requirement that we must PROMISE to never commit sin, again. Just BELIEVE? Get to know Him.

It just seemed like a fantasy. My SDA teaching which had been pounded into me for years and years, would start creeping up like some huge “Sucking Monster” that would be there to instantly suck away in his great vacuum the HOPE I just couldn’t dare to Believe.

Just Believe. Just Believe. I wanted to, but I KNEW my sins, even from the distant past. I tried. I really did. But, it just seemed too impossible.

Then I came across this I had read a thousand times:

“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.” Hebrews 10:37-38

I had always looked at that passage as a THREAT from God, yet NOW, for some reason, I saw it as a “gentle push” to finally take the step off the mile high cliff, and don’t look down. What on earth do I have to lose? The Commandments had been killing me. Now, if I stepped off the cliff and God wasn’t there, THAT would kill me. So, take the step.

I found myself saying, “But, God, I have absolutely NOTHING to give You.”

God told me, “That’s good. That’s exactly where I want you. I just want you exactly where you are. NOW, I have something to work with. Take the step. Go on (as He gently pushes). Believe Me.”

And so…. I do. And I practice laying down my unbelief and hopelessness each and every day, and I BELIEVE Him.

I have NOTHING to lose, and EVERYTHING to gain!

So Far From The Safety I Knew