Keep the faith, baby!

St. Paul gives some very good advice to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10:32-39) and subsequently to us, exhorting all to persevere and not lose hope. That sounds pretty laudable, but what exactly are we to persevere in and not to lose hope of?

It is nothing less than to love God above all things and to love our neighbor as ourselves with the certain hope that such behavior will merit us everlasting life.

Loving God above all things seems doable, yet how often do we witness our own slippage and how does it take us away from serving the Almighty and giving Him the praise and thanksgiving that are His due?

If that wasn't enough, we also have the exhortation about loving our neighbor, which we all know is frequently difficult. It simply isn't enough that we merely avoid overtly offending our neighbor, but also, that we don't withhold anything that might assist him on his way to the Kingdom of heaven.

It can be easy to ignore the suffering of those who are in the various prisons where they might find themselves – prisons that are not just physical detention centers, but the prisons of disease, financial challenges, mental anguish, addictions, abusive relationships, workplace stress, persistent unemployment, violence and repression.  And we can be easily seduced to conclude that the bounty of material items, freedom from want, privilege, insulation from conflict and confrontation, and safety from personal harm is a birthright instead of a wonderful gift. 

Those of us who live in western society can easily forget that we generally live at the top of the historical pyramid of human privilege, and the benefits we enjoy are because of our good fortune in being born into this world in this place at this particular point in human history.  Even people in our societies who struggle for the daily means of existence are still in some ways (due to our governmental and private “safety nets”) better off than the poor and downtrodden of 2,000 years ago.

And so when the Hebrews author encourages us to “keep the faith” by not forgetting the ways in which we shared in the sufferings of those in prison, it really reminds us to keep demonstrating our faith by continuing to share in those confinements, however they are created for our sisters and brothers.  And when we are told we have joyfully accepted the confiscation of our property, I think it really means to be mindful of the need to detach our true selves from the wondrous bounty that surrounds us, and to realize that the true gift we have received is not physical things that will fade away, but the salvation we receive from trusting in the Lord.  We keep our faith by keeping our focus, by committing our way to that of the Lord.

Taken all together, it is a big bill to fill and no wonder we need God's grace to accomplish it. Yet, praise be to God, His grace is not lacking for those who seek it and utilize it as the freely given gift that it is.

Persevere then; don't lose hope. It was good advice then and it certainly is now.