one step: Hebrews 13.9

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

We have a tree in our backyard that was combined through grafting so that three different types of fruit can grow out of the same tree. It’s an amazing idea for multiple fruits to come from the same tree! Sadly, for us, the tree has yielded no fruit. I have to tell you, as deep as my disappointment is that our little tree seems to be failing at its design, I would be pleased in equal measure if it somehow began producing fruit!

Hebrews 13 tells us that two forms of worship emerge as fruit from the life of the believer: praise and service.* These are the sacrifices that God sees as pleasing.* These are not one-time sacrifices, however. They are to be continual.* We are to never stop praising His name and we are to never stop serving one another. How is that possible?

The author of Hebrews clarifies that the praises we are to offer include confessing God’s name.* The Greek word homologeō is used in this verse… it means “to speak the same.” When we praise God, confessing His name back to Him, we are choosing to come into agreement with who He says that He is, and we are speaking back to Him the same thing that He says about Himself. This is a practice that we must engage in continually because we need continual reminding of who He is. When we come into agreement with who He is, we will see our lives change. This pleases God.

When we continually serve and meet the needs of one another, we are expressing the Kingdom nature of the covenant community of people who are joined to Christ.* This kind of engagement with the people of God must be continual because it’s how the body of Christ is designed to reflect His headship and His love. We must never stop expressing the love of Christ to one another in practical ways. This pleases God.

What makes these things sacrifice? It’s sacrifice because it’s continual. Meaning, we are to praise His name and serve others even when life is hard. We are to praise God’s name even when we experience loss. We are to serve others even when they are not serving us. We are to praise His name even when we see no path ahead. We are to serve others even when they speak ill of us. It’s a sacrifice, but it’s worth it.

Can you imagine how excited God would be to see His people producing these two fruits in their lives as He designed? Can you imagine how pleased He would be to see His people offering sacrifices of praise and service? I’d like to see that kind of excitement.

There have been times in my life that have been so incredibly hard, that I sat in a time of worship, with others singing and lifting hands around me. As tears streamed down my silent face, the pain in my heart served as the only worship that I had. These times were sacred. These times were grieving, and I know that God caught every tear in a bottle in heaven (Psalm 56:8). He met me where I was at.

There were other times, though, when something inside of me looked at the pain in my life and said, “I don’t care! I’m going to praise anyway!” These times were special as well. These times were sacrificial in a very pleasing way to God.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to lift up a sacrifice of praise to His name. Perhaps today God wants you to serve someone you know in the body of Christ in some practical way. Perhaps today God wants you to stop waiting for praise and service to be easy. Maybe today God wants you to go for it.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Stedman, R. C. (1992). Hebrews (Heb 13:7–19). IVP Academic.
Grindheim, S. (2023). The Letter to the Hebrews (D. A. Carson, Ed.; pp. 688–691). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
France, R. T. (2006). Hebrews. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, pp. 189–190). Zondervan.
Guthrie, G. (1998). Hebrews (p. 441). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Hebrews 13.8

Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.

From where does your strength come from? It’s easy to say the right thing, but if we are honest, to where do we look for strength?

There was a season of my life that I unknowingly lied to myself that my strength came from the joy of the Lord and by His grace. The reason I was able to unknowingly lie to myself is that is the nature of being deceived… you don’t know that it’s happening. Joy and grace are available to all believers as a source of strength, but I wasn’t utilizing it. Without realizing it, I was leaning into my own religious practices and performance to muster up strength.

The writer of Hebrews warns of strange and different teachings than those of Christ. The teachings of Jesus emphasized grace.* It’s an ongoing temptation throughout history for Christians to attempt to achieve the approval of God through eating foods or refraining from foods and other spiritual practices.* While the source and nature of the “diverse and strange teachings” mentioned in Hebrews 13 are uncertain, they may include spiritual practices as well as pagan practices.*

Here is a bold statement: spiritual practices, like food, have no benefit… in earning God’s approval.*

Food, like spiritual practices, have a function and benefit, but that function does not bridge the gap between humanity and God. Only the grace of God through Jesus provides salvific effect. Spiritual practices are nothing more than extension cords that, when plugged into us on one side and to God on the other, may connect us to Him and His power. Spiritual practices disconnected from God do nothing but create a tripping hazard or a danger of entanglement. They cannot serve as a source of anything life-giving.

What have you been drawing strength from? What practices have you engaged in to draw closer to God? Have they become your source of strength in place of God? Do you believe God is mad at you if you don’t do enough?

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to devote yourself to Him. Perhaps God wants you to demote spiritual practices from source to extension cord. Maybe today God wants you to remember His grace.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Stedman, R. C. (1992). Hebrews (Heb 13:7–19). IVP Academic.
Grindheim, S. (2023). The Letter to the Hebrews (D. A. Carson, Ed.; pp. 677–678). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
France, R. T. (2006). Hebrews. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, pp. 187–188). Zondervan.
Guthrie, G. (1998). Hebrews (p. 439–440). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: water break

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

John 14:27

The One Step Daily Devotional is intended to provide just one step each day for your journey with God. Every journey requires water breaks. Here is a water break for you.

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Have you ever been in a stressful situation or a season of uncertainty that left the taste of fear lingering in your mouth? I know I have. Many times I cannot sleep just because I have a difficult conversation of conflict the next day or because I have a test that I have to take. Other times the stakes are higher. During these times, it feels almost impossible to give away peace. Why? Because we can’t give away what we do not have.

Making my stressors look small, in John 14, Jesus is staring down the path of His life, and He sees death. His brutal death on the cross is imminent, and He somehow gives away peace. How did Jesus have peace at such a time, and how did He give it away?

First, it’s possible because it’s not a peace that we can get from this world. This is for two reasons: 1) the world does not have it;* 2) whatever the world does have is counterfeit (perceived lack of enemies or a temporary comfort).* The peace that Jesus carried prior to the cross came as a characteristic of the dawning Kingdom of Heaven.* Jesus, the King of the Kingdom of Heaven carried a peace that came from God, not circumstances.*

Second, this peace is the product of the person of the Holy Spirit.* The Holy Spirit is the promise that God will always be intimately present with you, and nothing can separate you from Him.*

These are two truths that we must take in slowly and intentionally: our peace should come from the truth that we as believers are members of the kingdom of peace, and the God of all is intimately close to us at all times forever.

If we stand in the Kingdom here and now with the King beside us, what worry may we have? How will we allow our hearts to be troubled? What can stand before us that could make us afraid? The most powerful person stands beside us closely as our feet rest in His territory of peace.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remember who He is and where you stand. Perhaps today God wants you to rest in the peace that does not come from circumstances. Maybe today God wants you to give that peace away just as Jesus passed along the Holy Spirit to each and every one of us.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Whitacre, R. A. (1999). John (Vol. 4, pp. 364–365). IVP Academic.
Klink, E. W., III. (2016). John (C. E. Arnold, Ed.; pp. 634–635). Zondervan.Burge, G. M. (2000). John (pp. 399–400). Zondervan Publishing House.
Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (p. 506). Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.

one step: Hebrews 13.7

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

How many Christian leaders have you had in your life that you can look back on and model your life after? How many of them did you know well enough to model your life after? How many Christian leaders have you had that gave you better notes on how not to live than to live?

This verse in Hebrews references leaders that passed away.* They lived their lives in such a way that others could model their lives after them with the purpose of closeness to Christ.* This phenomenon was not incredibly unique to the approach of the early church.* Paul serves as an example of this with his words in 1 Corinthians 11:1,

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

We don’t know anything about the past leaders to which the author of Hebrews speaks.* We certainly cannot assume that the word “leader” referred to any kind of official position in the church.* Regardless, those he mentions are worth emulating.

As we experience the leadership of others (from parents, teachers, church leaders, etc), we will have good and bad experiences. Based upon the brokenness of humanity throughout history, I doubt that the leaders that the author of Hebrews mentions were perfect.

Whether we experience loss from leaders that we loved and they passed away (as the case of those in the book of Hebrews), or we experience loss from the lost opportunity of leaders that were a hurtful disappointment, we can find hope in these words: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Jesus does not die. We can emulate Him always. Jesus does not hurt; He does not disappoint; He heals always.

The challenge for us is this: we are all leaders… what kind of leader will we be?

John Wesley’s memorial in Westminster Abby reads,

God buries his workmen, but He carries on his work.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remember Christ - to think on all that He is as savior, redeemer, servant, friend, and love. Perhaps today God would have you grieve the loss of great leaders or grieve the loss of leaders who did not measure up. Maybe today God wants you to take a step to becoming a leader that looks like Christ.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Stedman, R. C. (1992). Hebrews (Heb 13:1-6). IVP Academic.
Grindheim, S. (2023). The Letter to the Hebrews (D. A. Carson, Ed.; pp. 668–669). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
France, R. T. (2006). Hebrews. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, pp. 184). Zondervan.
Guthrie, G. (1998). Hebrews (p. 437). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Hebrews 13.6

 So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;
    I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”

It’s interesting that being content in what we have, trusting in the Lord, and trusting in what He says places us in a position to not fear loss and what people can do to us. This is interesting because the lie that we are offered is that more and more money and possessions will give us the kind of confidence that only trusting in God can provide.

According to Hebrews 10:32-34, the original readers of the book of Hebrews endured persecution that included the confiscation of their possessions.* It comes as no surprise then that these people would need to hear encouragement not to fear what man can do. The confidence comes from knowing that even if people take everything away, God provides and can replace with His great provision.*

This quote in Hebrews 13:6 comes from Psalm 118:6-7 and is believed to have been written by King David during a time of seeing the Lord deliver him from danger.* In his moment of seeing God move, the astonishingly less-powerful ability of man was put into right perspective. This is what the author of Hebrews was seeking to do; this is what God wants to do for each of us.

What have you been afraid of losing? Have you allowed past situations to cause you to hold tightly to the wrong things? Have you lost peace?

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remind you that He has the power to provide. Perhaps today God wants you to place your confidence in who He is and what He says about Himself. Maybe today God wants you to look at the opposition against you with a right perspective: it is nothing compared to your God.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Stedman, R. C. (1992). Hebrews (Heb 13:1-6). IVP Academic.
Grindheim, S. (2023). The Letter to the Hebrews (D. A. Carson, Ed.; pp. 668–669). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
France, R. T. (2006). Hebrews. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, pp. 184). Zondervan.
Guthrie, G. (1998). Hebrews (p. 437). Zondervan Publishing House.