Don't and Do

“Encourage one another daily…so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:13



We rarely read warning labels. Most listed dangers seem so obvious that printing them in black and white borders on overkill. “Don’t blow-dry your hair in the bathtub,” and “Don’t ingest insecticide,” should go without saying, but, then again, so should, “Don’t harden your hearts if you hear God’s voice.” Yet we find this warning written not once but twice in Scripture—both in the Old Testament and the New. Psalm 95 calls us to come, sing, shout, and worship our great God and King, but then follows the summons to celebration with an instructional caution—a warning. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah”(Ps. 95:8). Hebrews repeats the admonition with similar words, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion”(Heb. 3:8).


Just as most warnings are thus labeled because someone somewhere for some reason chose to do what shouldn’t have been done and incurred the ensuing consequences, so these verses have a corresponding story—and not of someone acting in ignorance but in insolence. The Israelites had barely shaken the dust of Egypt’s slavery off their sandals when their stomachs started rumbling and their hearts started grumbling. Sending ten plagues on their captors, splitting the Red Sea to save them and swallow their enemies, and showering manna from heaven for daily food in the desert weren’t enough to convince God’s chosen people that He was with them and for them. The moment they got thirsty, what was in their hearts came out of their mouths. They rebelled against God’s grace, and instead of trusting, they tested. Their refusal to believe God would meet their needs and later lead them to victory resulted in a forty year “‘Round the desert til the adults die off” camping trip. Tough stuff. But that’s what happens when our hearts get hard.


“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” In spite of the piles of God’s goodness and grace we have experienced throughout our lives, sin quickly cons us into selfishness and causes us to miss God’s best. Our personal choices and the pressure of an unbelieving culture combine to make our hearts callous and hard to the tender voice of our Father. So how do we stay soft to God’s Spirit? Daily encouragement. “Encourage one another daily…so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”


Don’t go at it alone, and don’t leave others to themselves either. Every single day, by pen, phone, computer and in person encourage those around you in their faith. Share God’s Word. Share God’s ways. Talk about what He is doing in your life and find out what He is doing in theirs. Pray for them. Pray with them. And continually point them to Jesus.


Warning labels are written for a reason.
Read. Remember. And reach out to each other.