Devotional 12 July 2025

July 12, 2025 • Steve Torres

Hebrews 10:39.jpg

"But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:32-39, ESV)

The Christian life was never promised to be easy. In fact, the Scriptures repeatedly warn us to expect hardship. The believers addressed in Hebrews had already suffered much: they were mocked, slandered, imprisoned, their property unjustly taken (Hebrews 10:32–34). They stood alongside others in suffering, and they did so joyfully, because they knew they had “a better possession and an abiding one.”

And yet, the writer of Hebrews pleads with them not to give up. Why? Because the temptation to drift, to shrink back, to fall away when things get hard, is always near. The same temptation faces us. Many voices today preach a faith that promises ease, wealth, and comfort. But that kind of message fails when real life hits, when the job is lost, when the diagnosis comes, when prayers seem to go unanswered.

True faith is not merely believing in God’s existence, but believing God, trusting that what He has said, He will surely do (Hebrews 11:6; James 2:19). This kind of faith clings to Christ when everything else shakes. It believes that the present suffering is not meaningless but is producing “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17–18). As Paul writes, “we suffer with [Christ] in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17).

This is the heart of Hebrews: Christ is better. He is the better High Priest, who intercedes for us (Hebrews 4:14–16). He is the better sacrifice, whose blood truly cleanses (Hebrews 10:14). He brings a better covenant, built on better promises (Hebrews 8:6). In Him, we have access to the very throne of grace (Hebrews 10:19–22), and we come not trembling with fear, but boldly, with confidence.

That confidence calls us to action. “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together… but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24–25). As believers, we must walk together. Suffering isolates, but Christ-centered community calls us back.

So we endure, not alone, not without hope, but with faith. As the prophet declared, and as Hebrews echoes: “The righteous shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4; Hebrews 10:38). We are those who do not shrink back, even when it hurts. Even when obedience is costly. Even when the way seems long. Because He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).

And so we do not grow weary in doing good (Galatians 6:9). We do not let our hands fall limp, nor our hearts grow cold. Instead, we draw near to God, over and over again. For He is our rescue, our joy, our rest. And though this road is narrow, it leads to life.

Choose this day to press on in faith. Don’t drift. Don’t look back. Don’t believe the lies that say God has forgotten you or that your faith is in vain. We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Hold fast! Jesus is better. Always.