“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:12-13)

We all need to pay attention when we see warning signs. But sometimes we get used to seeing warnings, and we begin to ignore them. When that happens, real danger can creep in and do lots of damage.

In the book of Hebrews, we have come to a passage that serves as a warning sign. And we do well to pay attention to what the author is saying here. The writer is pointing to the history of God’s people and showing how it did not play out so well. People were quick to harden their hearts and turn away from God.

So we need to learn from the mistakes of others. Don’t ­harden your hearts to the Lord. Keep focused on Jesus.

One important lesson we find here is that in living in a community together, we need to encourage each other in our walk with God. We cannot keep free from sin and temptation on our own; we need the Lord, and we need each other. We need to encourage each other to keep on following the Lord.

When the people of God ignored warning signs in the past, they ran into real danger. Let’s not get so used to warning signs that we begin to ignore them. Let’s continue to encourage each other to “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus”  (Hebrews 3:1).

Prayer: Lord God, help us to pay attention to warning signs, keep our focus on Jesus, and encourage each other to hear Your voice. Amen.