Dr. Harley Howard
Consider Christ. Reflect upon and understand Him. Fix your mind and focus on Him. Perceive Him with both your mind and your heart.
This is the great omission of many professing Christians today. We are so self-focused, we are so introspective, so concerned about our own flesh and perceived needs (which are usually wants) that we have little or no time to focus on Christ. Just listen to the things that are being said about Christ in Christian circles and compare them to the Bible. It is absolutely clear that most professing Christians know little to nothing of who Jesus is. When I listen with careful perception, I notice things that are said about Him that are either distorted or have nothing to do with the Scriptures. Worse than that are the many things that are simply left out of our speech and understanding concerning who Jesus is. I constantly remind people of the Jesus of the Bible, because there are many false Christ’s being pushed on the church by false teachers, and gutless so-called Christian leaders who are more concerned about their own empires than the kingdom of God. We need to consider Him.
Dr. Harley Howard, author of The Book of Acts Commentary - the Work of the Holy Spirit, has been writing Bible commentaries for over 20 years. His passion is for the expositional preaching and teaching of the whole Bible. He hosted the Bible Study Program from 1980 to 1993 where he taught Bible exposition on a number of Christian radio stations in Northern and Southern California. He holds a Doctorate in Ministry and Christian Education. He has pastored three churches over a period of 18 years, and is currently Senior Pastor of Foundation of Truth Bible Church in Southern California. Dr. Howard has been married to his beloved wife DaWanda for 19 years. They have two daughters, Miriam Ann and Tabitha Patrice.
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let [them] slip.
On account of the previous passages and the undeniable truth that we have studied concerning the greatness of Jesus Christ being God the Son, these great truths concerning Jesus Christ should demand an immediate response from us. "We ought to give the more earnest heed." In other words, we ought to be paying greater attention with not only our hearts but also our minds, giving ourselves over to the things of what was said concerning Jesus Christ. We are warned of the danger of letting these great truths slip our minds, or escape our thinking.
I want to look briefly at how this word heed is used in other passages so we can see by example what it means "to give the more earnest heed."
Acts 8:5-6
5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
Acts 16:14-15
14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard [us]: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought [us], saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide [there]. And she constrained us.
1 Timothy 4:13-15
13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
2 Peter 1:16-21
16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.
Though the writer of Hebrews is warning us of the danger of drifting from the things that were spoken about Jesus Christ, this drifting is much more than mentally letting the truth slip our minds. Worse than that, it refers to the danger of us drifting away from Christ.
This should alert us to some important facts:
- Just because you sit in an environment of truth does not mean that you are safe from drifting away from it, or that you haven’t done so already.
- When we are cognizant of an abundance of truth but we do not apply it in our behavior, this demonstrates that we have drifted away from it. Our non-action is a clear consequence of our apathy towards Jesus.
- The drifting away from the truth is more specifically drifting away from Jesus Christ Himself. This drifting is far beyond creating intellectual distance from facts—it is willfully ignoring the Savior.
- The drifting is done by ourselves: no external hindrances are stated in the text that causes us to drift.
