“Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession …”
Hebrews 3:1
“Even those that are holy brethren, and partakers of the heavenly calling, have need to stir up one another to think more of Christ than they do, to have him more in their minds; the best of his people think too seldom and too slightly of him. We must consider Christ as he is described to us in the scriptures, and form our apprehensions of him thence, not from any vain conceptions and fancies of our own.”
– Matthew Henry, Commenting on the verse above
I think about how much I actually consider Christ during my days, how much I actually turn from my own little self-consumed world and involve Christ in my daily activities, and I am ashamed. Considering how much of my day is spent on self-centered ambitions and pursuits puts me to shame and I am guilty of exchanging the glory of God for something of infinitely lesser value. Christ is the supreme King and the High Priest of our confession! And after having seen such great divine love as this, shown in the incarnation of Christ and ultimately His cross, in not considering Him, I am guilty of sin worse than an unbeliever who does not have this knowledge. How dreadful a thought! I am a sinner beyond what I can even imagine and the more I see it the more it awakens reverent fear in me of God’s holiness. How rotten my soul is and how desperate is my condition! I have nothing to bring this wonderful lovely God who bowed down to rescue me from the depths of hell by going through hell on my behalf. He has bridged the gap between me and God and given me Himself as my treasure, and yet how often and prone I am to turn from Him and His glory. Considering this shows me in a deeper sense how inadequate I am. The word inadequate to describe my condition is itself the same as its meaning. I am exposed and naked before the eyes of Him to whom I must give account, But …
… Praise be to God for the person and work of Jesus Christ that He is actively obeying on my behalf, where He is forever interceding for me and entered into the holy of holies, a place I could never begin to even draw near to without His blood shed on my behalf. I have no hope apart from His work. I cannot fathom the depths and lengths Christ had to go to set aside His heavenly realm and descend down to a worm like me in order to make a wretch His treasure. How incomparable is the love of Christ! What grace has been applied to my dead soul by the Holy Spirit, that was walking straight into the fires of hell in rebellion against God when at His own time, by His own purpose, pleasure and will, He birthed me anew and washed me clean of all my sin. He has removed the guilt and turned away the wrath of God that was ready to be unleashed like an archer with a bow and arrow pulled back over my heart (Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God) … and He did this when Christ stood in the way and took the arrow in His heart for me! “He was cut off from the land of the living,” in order that I may have Him as my treasure forever! OH what great kindness and love is this. This is the love that awakens my heart to sing of His glories. The work of Christ, in His life, death, and resurrection, has brought me life in Himself beyond what I could ever have conceived and I exalt Him for how He has paid for my sins that are so dreadfully awful as I consider their injury to His glory, worth, and value. The greater I see how bad the offense really is, the greater I see the lengths to which Christ had to go for me (and even that I cannot conceive fully).
And so in considering your grave, gloriously injurious sin toward this matchless, loving, kind, yet frighteningly holy God, how you’ve slighted Him day after day, pursuing idols in exchanging Him for things of essentially no value in comparison to Him, consider Jesus Christ, that by faith in His work on your behalf, you have been purchased and redeemed “not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter 1:18-19) The guilt you feel for your sin has been absorbed in Jesus’ work, and only when you begin to see this can you be truly free from sin … if you try to fix this on your own (as all other religions attempt to), you will fail and wallow in your sin and guilt forever. If you are seeking your joy and satisfaction outside of the person of Christ, whatever form that may be in, look to Christ and consider Him and His great love for you brought to a climax on the cross, calling out for you to once again be reconciled to Him, that you may have your enjoyment and satisfaction complete by God Himself. “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 3:15)