by Stuart Briscoe
Before departing for heaven and promising to return for them, Jesus warned His followers that life in the interim would not be easy. But they were to stand firm. Thirty years later, Hebrews was written to some Jewish believers who were finding out He was right. They were not doing well. The homily, or epistle, carefully identified their problems and gave warm encouragement to the struggling disciples to "keep the faith" and strong warnings about failure to do so.
We need both encouragement and warnings in the church today, where many are facing dangerous overt threats to their well-being, while others are being subjected to insidious pressures of which they may not even be aware. In both cases they need to hear the call of Christ to stand firm - to Keep the Faith.
