Hebrews 6:9-12
I have a confession to make; I have been lazy. Even as I make the confession, I find myself wanting to make excuses. Some of my excuses are so good even I almost believe them. It is the nature of the human condition that excuses come easy. We even make it easy for others by making excuses for them. If we want to grow out of immaturity, we have to practice a commitment to the truth. Excuses are no longer acceptable.

The writer of Hebrews has just warned immature Christians about the result of failing to maintain their relationship with God. He now tells them that he is convinced that they are better than the bad examples he has told them about. He reminds them that God is righteous. God does not forget the good we do, and the love we show. He is not like us. When someone harms us, or falls short of our expectations, sometimes we focus upon the negative and forget the good they have done. God sees the whole picture, he sees when we struggle, but he also sees when we come through victorious.

To achieve victory we must avoid laziness. Laziness is disinclination to activity or exertion despite having the ability to act or exert ourselves. When Christians fail, it is often because of what they fail to do, rather than because of an act of disobedience. God intends that Christians work. We do not work just to be doing something; we work because there is a lot that only we can do. Only we can show God’s love to the world through action. The world needs us. We do not work to save ourselves; Christ has already done that work. We work to bring Christ and his love to the world.

Worldly people work because they seek worldly rewards. Christians work because they seek heavenly rewards. Love and hope motivate Christians to change the world we live in. As we work to change the world, the work changes us. A working Christian is a growing Christian.