Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 6:9-12

Have you ever had to be the bearer of bad or challenging news to someone? Have you ever had to fire someone? Or be fired? It is devastating, isn’t it?

That’s the kind of emotion I think the writer of Hebrews was experiencing as he wrote the warnings to those who fall away earlier in the sixth chapter.

So now he writes of better things and gives hope for good news for those receiving the letter because of the confidence in their salvation.

Our faith in Christ inevitably produces the fruit of acting on that faith and serving others. The Christian life is about following Christ and shining light in darkness. People around us should notice a difference. Do they?

Next, the writer encourages us (as he does throughout the book) to be faithful to the end, because the end is just the beginning. Don’t give up. Don’t get tired. Look to those who have gone before us and be encouraged by what they have learned and what patience they displayed.

Is there someone in your life who you have looked to as an example of perseverance in Christ? Is there a Biblical example you relate to best?

Look forward to the better things.