September 6 | Hebrews 10:19-25
DAILY READING
Hebrews 10:19-25
REFLECTION
A Hospitable Father
by Mary Kate Hipp
Throughout high school and early college, I spent much of my time babysitting and house-sitting. If you have ever house-sat or babysat, you may resonate with the experience of being told "help yourself to anything in the house." For whatever reason, I could never bring myself to "help myself." I felt as though helping myself to a band aid or a snack was indeed preposterous. There was no way I was allowed to actually step through the family's "curtain." Because their house was not my own, helping myself felt intimate, like stepping through a private curtain (much like that in the temple of God).
In today's reading, we see that through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, we are permitted to step into the House of the Lord. The Gospel is ultimately hospitable. Through the defeat of sin and death by the grace of God, the curtain was torn and we as believers were given permission to enter into His house. Prior to the tearing of the curtain, only the High Priest was allowed to enter through the curtain in the temple once a year in order to atone for the sins of all people. Even then there were contingencies for his entrance. But because of the Gospel, we are welcome with open arms through the curtain as a unified body. Jesus became our High Priest for once and for all, atoning for all of our sins.
Brothers and sisters, we have no need to be sheepish in the house of the Lord as I was in the houses of the families I babysat for. Christ sincerely invites us into His home, seats us as royalty, provides our daily bread and we never thirst in His house. You have no need to reject His offer, He is waiting.
Today I challenge you to accept the hospitality of the Gospel. Sit and eat the Bread of Life, drink from His deep wells, commune with the body, find rest in your salvation.
PRAYER
Oh God, thank you for being the hospitable Father. Help me to step into your house today, to trust You in Your invitation and to enter into the family of God unabashedly.
