The guy who introduced me to Jesus ended up cashing in the faith. If I look back on anybody being the one who spiritually fathered me, it was him . . . and my buddy ended up walking out on the family. At the time he first opened the Scriptures to me, over 35 years ago, he was on fire for the Lord . . . devouring the Scriptures . . . evangelizing constantly . . . even ending up behind the Iron Curtain with a missions team . . . eventually doing missions work in the Sudan. But after his return from the mission field, something happened . . . don’t know what exactly . . . but over time he ended up turning his face from the kingdom of heaven and instead pursuing the things of this world. He came to mind this morning (I’ll again pray for him) as I read Hebrews 3 . . .

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. . . . Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.    (Hebrews 3:1-2, 12-13 ESV)

Falling away from the living God . . . the phrase makes me shutter. It can happen . . . my buddy’s a reminder. It’s seeded by an unbelieving heart. The things we believed to be true when we were first saved, we’re less convinced are true today. The walk of faith we embraced in the early days, giving way to a walk by sight . . . less convinced of the hope that lies beyond this world, and so getting all we can, while we can, while we’re here.

The unbelieving heart becoming “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Standards we once deemed imperative, somehow get tagged as legalistic. The narrow gate that Jesus talked about (Matt. 7:13-14), somehow gets wider. Grace in everything, somehow gets twisted into “anything goes.” The life of self-denial giving way to the pursuit of self-determination. I don’t think my friend woke up one morning and said to himself, “Self, we’re done with this holy calling stuff. Today we’re going to fall away from the living God.” No, it was subtle . . . starting with an unbelieving heart . . . getting sucked into the deceitfulness of sin. Can anyone say, “Crash and burn!?!”

So, if it could happen to him, how do I keep it from happening to me?

Two words jump off the page in my reading this morning . . . Consider Jesus.

Behold . . . observe . . . understand . . . discover . . . consider attentively . . . fix your eyes or mind upon . . . the blessed Son of God . . . the Second Person of the Holy Trinity . . . the Savior of the world . . . the King of kings, and Lord of lords.

The words of Hebrews 1 echo . . . in these last days, God has spoken to us by His Son, the radiance of God’s glory, the exact imprint of God’s nature. And the Father thunders from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him” (Matt. 17:5). Hear Him . . . seek Him . . . pursue a relationship with Him . . . consider Jesus.

Sounds simple as a preventative prescription to avoid apostasy . . . but I’m thinking it’s a pretty solid starting point.

O’ that I might never stop beholding the Lamb of God, being reminded of the price paid for my sin . . . that I might never lose sight of the Bridegroom, marveling afresh at the garments of righteousness He has clothed His bride with . . . that I might never cease to wonder at the High Priest of my confession who died, rose again, and lives to ever bring me into the most holy of holy places.

Consider Jesus . . . and keep on keepin’ on . . . by His grace . . . for His glory!