Hebrews 13:15-19

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. ¹⁶ And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. ¹⁷ Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

¹⁸ Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. ¹⁹ I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.

Our To-Do List

Do you use the To-do or Task List in your Outlook account? You create the task, set a start or due date, give it a status, a priority and set a reminder. In these verses, the author of the letter gives us a To-do list that is straightforward. The tasks are created, the due date (now) and the priority (high) are set.

• Continuously praise God for what he has done for us.
• Openly profess his name.
• Do good and share with others.
• Have confidence in the leaders and make their work a joy and not a burden.
• Pray for your leaders, pray in general.

In Outlook you also set the status: not started, in progress, completed, waiting on someone else, deferred. It is clear from the text that the status on these tasks should be in progress. To-do lists can be helpful in managing our daily lives, but they are only helpful if we take the time and energy to really work through them instead of pushing the due date forward or waiting on others to start. Sometimes it is difficult to find the motivation to do any of the things we know we should do. Why should I do it at all? Why now? How can I find the time? What is my motivation? Why should I make these a priority in my busy life?

The text provides the answer to this right at the beginning of verse 15 – “therefore”.

Therefore refers to what is written in the verses before, perhaps reread Hebrews 13:1-14 as a reminder. The why’s and how’s are listed for us: He will never leave you. He is your helper. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He makes us holy through his own blood. Let us go to him.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your unconditional love and acceptance through the sacrifice of your Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, help us to live up to the tasks that you give us. Help us to profess your name through everything we say and do. Amen.