“For God is not unrighteous to forget or overlook your labor and the love which you have shown for His name's sake in ministering to the needs of the saints (His own consecrated people), as you still do.”
Hebrews 6:10 AMPC
God in His mercy knows how to help us grow in our knowledge and experience of Him. He does not place a burden of immediate full development upon salvation on us; He knows that there must be room for a progressive relationship with God, by which we come into a deeper walk with Him. The other side of this argument is that I cannot then use this as an excuse not to grow. God will play His part, but I must take advantage of all the opportunities for experiencing Him that He brings my way. He does not seek to force Himself on anyone, or go against the exercise of my freewill, but be sure that an accounting will be demanded from all to whom these resources have been made available.
We do not know who the writer of the book of Hebrews is, but the message in the first few verses of the chapter from where the verse above is taken from is clear: we need to move past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ, and advance steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. The foundation holds up the building. If the foundation is faulty, the house will eventually fall. If I am only interested in the outward display and not the inner witness, it is just a matter of time before it all falls apart. Where am I standing? On who/what am I standing? Who/What is holding me up?
What the above tells me is that I cannot afford to switch off, or to ever think I can make it on my own. God provides the help I need to stand, but I need to take hold of the help. Do not be deceived by the false sense of safety that the 'once saved, forever saved' theory seeks to lay down. The ideal is that salvation is a one-off experience, with growth in God and a deepening knowledge of Him the results that follow, but do not think that just folding your hands or sitting on them will keep you away from sin. There is a working out in fear and trembling that must follow salvation; not labour by muscle, but labour in total and absolute dependence on the strength that only Christ provides.
It is these people that rely solely on God that the verse above is speaking to. When I labour in the strength that Christ provides, I am not seeking recognition or the praise of men; I am serving the One who saved me and calls me His own. As the verse above makes clear, the audience were people who were showing God's kind of love to people, in ministering to the needs of the saints and working to promote the principles and practices of God's kingdom. God is not man, who can be fooled by outward show. He sees my heart, and knows the motives behind whatever I do. He is the One who will reward accordingly. Work like someone who knows who you are really working for, and what the end looks like. God's time of favour is here.
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