Hebrews 6:9-11
The key words are: salvation, work, love, help, diligence, hope. The author contrasts laziness with faith and patience and parallels God's justice with his remembering the work of his children. The theme is faith, particularly the faith of our spiritual ancestors - a theme that the author will camp on in Hebrews 11 and 12. Another theme is the surety of our hope - a theme that the author will develop in the next couple of verses.
This section takes almost the opposite tone as the previous paragraphs: the previous paragraph being a dire warning and this paragraph being an encouragement to continue in the faith. The main thought is that, in light of the devastating consequences of falling away and the amazing hope if you hold on to faith, work hard to hold on to your faith.
This is a good affirmation for me. I do not feel in extreme danger of falling away from my faith, although I always need to be cautious because I know how weak I am; a few choices and changes in circumstances and my faith could be in extreme danger, apart from the grace of God. I need to work hard now, before my faith is in danger, to continue to solidify the foundations of my faith so that when the tough times come, I am ready and my faith can stand. Of course I recognize that while there is a human component to my faith - in other words, there are things that I am responsible for when it comes to my faith - it is Christ and his grace that ultimately sustains me. My work is to stay connected to him.
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I think having a healthy fear of the fact that we could be in danger of losing our faith is good. We never want to become complacent in our faith, there is always work to be done. It is interesting how God does that work, but we somehow have to get ourselves in line with what God is doing. I hope this makes sense, it is hard for me to put in writing what I am trying to explain. God does the work in us, but we need to work and knowing God.
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