Friday, July 3, 2026

Opening Scripture

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws. I hold fast to your statutes, Lord; do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of your commands, for you have broadened my understanding.

Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119 (selected)

Opening Prayer

Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for your love and mercy, your protection and provision, your comfort and healing. Help me to trust you in all things and orient my life toward you today. May my mind’s attention and heart’s affection be on you. Guide my choices and direct my decisions for your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

Hebrews 3:1-6

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Reflection  

Having established that Jesus is superior to angels, the writer now focuses on Jesus’ superiority to Moses. Drawing on yesterday’s reading, he addresses the listeners as “holy brothers and sisters who share in the heavenly calling.”

Jesus is an “apostle” because he was “sent” by God. Jesus is a “high priest” because He “mediates” between God and man. God chose Moses to lead His people from bondage under Pharaoh to the “Promised Land” of Canaan. God chose Jesus to lead His people from bondage under Satan to the “Promised Land” of Heaven.

Under the old covenant, Moses was “faithful in all God’s house” by following God’s instruction in the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness. “So all the work on the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, was completed. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded Moses” (Exodus 39:32).

Under the new covenant, Jesus is building a living temple, with His disciples embodying the very Spirit of God. “As you come to him, the living Stone … you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house … acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5).

Using the construction analogy, Jesus is the actual “builder” of the house, whereas Moses was just a part of it. The writer clarifies that God is the “builder of everything,” making Jesus equal with God. While Moses was a faithful servant, Jesus is the faithful Son. Moses was in God’s house, but Jesus is over God’s house. And we are part of God’s house if we persevere with courage and hope.

The writer of Hebrews uses the word “confidence” (parrésia) four times in his letter. It refers to boldness, courage, and being appropriately outspoken. It implies freedom and courage in discussing a topic based on confident knowledge of the subject matter. After Peter and John were released by the Sanhedrin, the disciples prayed together, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (Acts 4:29).

Parrésia is a “cheerful courage” that allows a person to “approach without fear.” Paul told the Christians in Corinth, “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold” (2 Corinthians 3:12). We’ll see this word again in next week’s reading when the writer says in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Flourishing Habit

Flourishing Christians

In today’s passage, the writer of Hebrews encourages his listeners to fix their thoughts on Jesus. Later, in Chapter 12, he tells them to fix their eyes on Jesus.

The Greek word translated “fix” (katanoeó) means to observe fully, to consider attentively, to perceive and understand.

“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus.” Clearly, the Lord Jesus should never be far from our minds!

Two months ago, we looked at our Flourishing Together: Transformed on The Jesus Way theme text for 2026, which is Romans 12:1-2.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

As we observed then, these two verses offer a five-step process for transformation.

1. Receive God’s mercy.
2. Offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice.
3. Refuse to conform to the world.
4. Choose to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
5. Know and do God’s will.

Our ongoing transformation really kicks in when we begin to think seriously about what we think about. What occupies the focus of your mind? That’s where it starts.

As Dallas Willard says in Renovation of the Heart, “Thoughts are the place where we can and must begin to change. There the light of God first begins to move upon us through the word of Christ, and there the divine Spirit begins to direct our will to more and more thoughts that can provide the basis for choosing to realign ourselves with God and his way.”

If “thoughts are the place where we can and must begin to change,” how is your thought life? What do you typically “fix your thoughts” on?

How often do you fix your thoughts on Jesus?

How frequently do you consider the Lord’s mercy and grace, His example and teaching, His mission and plan for your life?

In Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer says, “We must arrange our days – our morning routines, our daily habits, our schedules and budgets and relationships, the entire webs of our lives – so that we are deeply enjoying everyday life with God.” Does that describe you?

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!