Read with Me
Hebrews 13:18-19 (HCSB)
Pray for us; for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything. And I especially urge you to pray that I may be restored to you very soon.
Listen with Me
Even though the writer of Hebrews never includes his name anywhere in this letter, his identity was well-known to his readers. They knew the trials he had recently gone through, and that he was still undergoing. So, he asks them to pray that he would be restored to them soon.
All the leaders in the early Church, not just the apostles, understood that a lot rose and fell on their own personal integrity. If their lives demonstrated compromise in any area, that could either cause people to turn away from the gospel completely, often permanently, or it could open the door for others to live lives of compromise themselves, putting their souls in jeopardy.
For that reason, the writer of Hebrews strived in his own strength and in the power of the Holy Spirit to live a spotless life that not only inspired those watching them to live that kind of life themselves, but that also brought glory to God as they testified to His power and grace that made that kind of life possible. The writer had a clear conscience. His life was one that glorified God in every particular, even as he had gone through his recent trials. But still he asked that his readers continue to lift him up in prayer so that he could continue to live his life as a faithful disciple of Jesus and a faithful leader for His Church.
Pray with Me
Father, we have many leaders in the Church today who are men and women of the highest integrity. Like this writer, they rely on You moment by moment for guidance and power, critically aware that their lives and the way they live them can either inspire faith in others or can turn them away from you. Others, however, live hidden lives of sin that from time to time get glaringly exposed, destroying the faith of many and bringing disgrace on Your name as they are used by enemies of the cross to typify the “hypocrisy” that they claim is everywhere in Your Church. Lord, some may bridle at the idea that others are watching them and their lives to see what faith in You can truly do in a life. But it’s true, and the fact is that we are all called to be witnesses to You and Your salvation. That witness is far more than the words we say; it is the whole life which we live by grace through faith in Jesus, actively demonstrating Your love, Your grace, and Your power in our every thought, word and deed. Help my witness today to be strong for You. Amen.