{"id":2495,"date":"2023-04-03T07:51:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T11:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2495"},"modified":"2023-04-03T07:52:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-03T11:52:38","slug":"hebrews-316","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/03\/hebrews-316\/","title":{"rendered":"Hebrews 3:16"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to this reflection as a podcast, <\/em>click here<\/a>.

Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at one of the \u201c3:16\u201d verses of the Bible, spotlighting some of the significant theological statements that happen to fall on the 16th<\/sup> verse of the third chapter of a number of Old and New Testament books. <\/em>

\u201cWho were they who heard and rebelled?  Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?\u201d (Hebrews 3:16)
 
It doesn\u2019t take long to walk from Egypt to the Promised Land. 
 
The best estimate seems to be that a group of motivated travelers could stride from the delta region of the Nile River to the area now called Palestine in about three weeks.  Sadly, it took the people of Israel just a tick over 40 years.  How in the world do you transform a three-week journey into a wilderness odyssey lasting four decades?
 
The answer, according to the Old Testament, is that the Chosen People decided they could do a better job of managing their lives than the God who had miraculously liberated them from the horrors of slavery.  As the Hebrews descended into whining, complaining, ingratitude, and open moral rebellion, God rescinded his offer of a new life in the land of milk and honey.  \u201cYour children will enter the Promised Land,\u201d he says, \u201cbut you will stay here in the wilderness until this entire generation has passed from the scene.\u201d    
 
It\u2019s one of the most stunning developments in the entire biblical storyline.  
 
The people specially chosen by God to experience his love and his Law essentially throw those gifts back into his face. \u201cThanks for the offer, but we\u2019ll take it from here.\u201d  Do a quick tally of what these folks have already experienced: ten plagues that brought the Egyptians to their knees; dramatic rescue through the parting of the Red Sea; the daily supernatural gift of manna for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; water gushing from rocks in the desert; flocks of quail for everyone\u2019s backyard barbecue; and a pillar cloud of fire to signify God\u2019s never-ending presence.
 
Yet it\u2019s not enough.  Their stomachs are full, but their hearts are empty. 
 
The author of the book of Hebrews \u2013 whose identify has never been established \u2013 grabs this story and won\u2019t let it go.  Followers of Jesus need to learn from the past.  The people who had everything going for them \u2013 these are the very people Moses led out of Egypt! \u2013 completely blew it because they never actually entrusted themselves to God.
 
The book of Hebrews screams: Don\u2019t you blow it, too<\/em>.  Don\u2019t be fake.  Don\u2019t be a religious playactor.  Don\u2019t put on a good show for everyone while you\u2019re actually doing nothing more than spiritual hydroplaning \u2013 skimming along the surface of things while never really letting God know who you are. 
 
Spiritual impression management has been a problem for every disciple in every generation.  But it\u2019s especially perilous here in America.
 
Early in our country\u2019s history, success was considered the reward for cultivating virtue and character.  Then things began to change.  Success became associated with personality.  Cultural historians aren\u2019t sure exactly when this transition happened.  But all agree that by the time Dale Carnegie published his book How to Win Friends and Influence People<\/em> in 1936, there was no looking back.
 
Even if few of us have actually read America\u2019s bestselling non-fiction book from the first half of the 20th<\/sup> century, virtually everyone has heard of it.  Tens of thousands of copies are still sold every year. 
 
In the midst of the Great Depression, Carnegie sprang his big idea: The formula for personal success is built on smiles and personal appeal. 
 
The Successful Salesman was beginning to emerge as an iconic character in American life.  Carnegie urged his readers to sell themselves. We should advertise our own value the way Coca-Cola advertises the goodness of carbonated sugar water. 
 
As literary critic Peter Conn points out, there\u2019s a reason How to Win Friends<\/em> has the look and feel of an instruction manual.  That\u2019s because it is<\/u><\/em> an instructional manual \u2013 a set of \u201cfundamental techniques in handling people,\u201d as Carnegie himself put it. 
 
Chapters include titles like \u201cTwelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking,\u201d and, \u201cNine Ways to Change People Without Giving Offense.\u201d  Carnegie urges us to be friendly.  To be a good listener.  To call people by their names.  To look at others from their point of view.  This isn\u2019t a matter of empathy as much as a kind of calculated flattery.  We should gently steer situations toward our own benefit, much as a good salesman steers potential customers toward the big sale. 
 
Above all, we should smile.  If you don\u2019t feel like smiling, smile anyway.  Fake it till you make it.  Fans of the book insist that it works.  You\u2019ll discover that you can truly \u201chandle people.\u201d 
 
But a huge question is left hanging out there:  Is this really how you want to go through life?<\/em>  Is personal success all about impression management? 
 
In their book TrueFaced: Trust God and Others with Who You Really Are<\/em>, Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch insist that the people in our lives cannot be managed.  Nor can sin be managed.  And more than anything else, God cannot be managed.  Even if we happen to be witnesses to climactic moments in spiritual history, like those who had the privilege of walking with Moses, there\u2019s no substitute for actual trust in God \u2013 surrender that isn\u2019t faked.
 
Most of us shrink from such vulnerability.  Better to hide behind a smile and \u201cI\u2019m just fine, thank you\u201d than admit that we\u2019re far from the people we know we\u2019re called to be.
 
Thrall, McNicol, and Lynch have a ready answer:  You have nothing to lose but a life that wasn\u2019t working anyway<\/em>. \u201cOne of the greatest gifts we can offer to another person,\u201d they suggest, \u201cis a safe place to fail\u2026 Teachers and mentors help youthful followers of Christ to learn the priority of not hiding.\u201d
 
In the end, there\u2019s no need to settle for spiritual superficiality \u2013 the equivalent of turning a three-week journey into a 40-year nightmare. 
 
That\u2019s because today<\/em> you can believe the good news that you are utterly safe in the love and grace of God.
 
Just as you are<\/em>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. Every day during this season of Lent we\u2019re looking at one of the \u201c3:16\u201d verses of the Bible, spotlighting some of the significant theological statements that happen to fall on the 16th verse of the third chapter of a number of Old and New Testament books.  \u201cWho were they who heard… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[571,582,370],"class_list":["post-2495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-316-verses","tag-masks","tag-obedience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2495"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2498,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2495\/revisions\/2498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}