A Call To Endure in Faith by Faith (Hebrews 10:19–39)

Students do homework to avoid failing fuelled by the hope of future employment. Athletes endure training to avoid losing inspired by the goal of winning. Militaries recruit soldiers to avoid invasion motivated by the ideals of freedom. People eat well to avoid illness because they want to live healthily. We all do certain things to avoid certain things fuelled by certain things. And what we’re willing to do and the urgency with which we’re willing to do it can depend on the terribleness of what we’re trying to avoid and the potency of the fuel motivating us. As the author of Hebrews nears the end of his letter, all pretence begins to be dropped, his urgency is unmasked, and his expectations become explicit as he tells his readers, “You must do this so that you can avoid this fuelled by this.” Christians are called to action so as to avoid tragedy while fuelled by memory.