Welcome to the lettuce patch - the tenth chapter of Hebrews. Before we look at the focal verse (V. 36), let us examine why we give this chapter such a silly name.

Up to verse 18 in the tenth chapter, we've examined the sacrifice of Christ; how He did it one time so we only have to die one time and not twice, the second one being spiritual death. Because of his sacrifice, we are made holy and granted forgiveness of sin through the shed blood of the Lamb of God.

If we stopped there, we'd find ourselves amazed and rightly so, but not motivated to finish the work Christ started in us. The writer shows us our obligation to not only receive his atonement with thanksgiving, but to respond by doing what is necessary to persevere to the end. Essentially, everything through verse 18 is a statement of what Christ's redemptive work provided us.

The verse (V.19) begins with, "Therefore." Now, whenever we see that word in Scripture, we should ask what it's there for. In other words, what follows tells us what action we should take on the basis of what has just been said.

Let us take a walk through the garden of Hebrews 10 and let us examine each head of lettuce, shall we?

• LET US draw near to God with a sincere heart (V.22);
• LET US hold unswervingly to the hope we profess (V.23);
• LET US consider how we can spur one another toward love and good deeds (V.24);
• LET US not give up meeting together (V.25a) and
• LET US encourage one another (V.25b).

Perseverance is the refusal to quit, a desire to finish that is greater than your desire to give up. Please note that perseverance finds a home in trouble and conflict. You never need to remind yourself to continue unless what you're doing is hard, tempts you to give up, requires investment or isolates you to the point you're standing outside of your desired comfort zone.

We called it second wind in football practice. I still remember the loud encouragement from my coach on the sidelines. (At least that's what some called it) "No pain, no gain," he said as he demanded we keep going when it looked like we were grinding to a halt.

Football coach Vince Lombardi described perseverance in a way athletes can associate: "I don't say these things because I believe in the "brute" nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle — victorious."

I don't know about Vince's relationship with God, but listening to his words makes me believe he might have been to the lettuce patch a time or two.

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( Ez. 23:1-49 Hb. 10:18-39 Ps. 109:1-31 Pr. 27:13 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society

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