Hebrews 10:35-36 – “…do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”
The author of Hebrews is trying to encourage the church to hang on to their Christian faith though it has caused them a lot of temporary suffering. The writer reflects upon them having been made a public spectacle of insult and ridicule. Some of them had been put in prison and had their property seized from them for having declared their faith in Jesus Christ. All of this hardship had taken a toll on the Christians over time and some of them were being tempted to go back to Judaism, rejecting Christ and His fulfillment of the Gospel.
The New Testament word for endurance is ‘hupomone.’ It’s a word that speaks to ‘remaining under’ the calling and authority of Christ when it’s tempting to come out from under His rule because of the cost. When writing to Timothy, the Apostle Paul speaks of his own fight to keep the faith and remain under Christ’s calling and rule since he too was suffering much for his obedience. He says to Timothy to join him in suffering for the Gospel reminding him of God’s Spirit to help, along with the promise of immortality (2 Tim. 1:7-9). He also exudes confidence in the coming reward saying, ‘I know whom I have believed and I’m convinced that Christ is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day’ (2 Tim. 1:12).
Are you living for temporary rewards or are you daily presenting yourself to Christ as a workman, abstaining from wickedness, pursuing faith, love, and peace? It’s a daily fight to remain under the rule of Christ; don’t throw away your confidence! He who has called you is faithful, and it will all be worth it in the end. We all need endurance. We gain that by keeping our eyes on what’s ahead, and our confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit that drives us to prayer.
Heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for the promise of immortality, eternal reward, and your presence to strengthen us in our times of weakness where we are tempted to come out from under your rule. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one and help us to keep an eternal perspective in Jesus’ name, Amen.