“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” – Hebrews 2:1

The author and pastor Louie Giglio isn't the type of runner who enjoys the scenery—he's just trying to survive his workouts. And when he's running in freezing rain? He's barely thinking at all.

So, there he was, slogging through the downpour, when a chain-link fence suddenly blocked his path. Without thinking, he hopped over a concrete divider and headed for shelter under an overpass. The overpass kept going, so he kept running under cover—fantastic!

He continued north, not really noticing that one lane had become two, then three. After a mile, all the traffic was moving slower than he was, and some driver was yelling at him. But he couldn't make out what she was saying and tried to ignore her anyway.

Then the overpass curved away and he was back in the rain. He could see the UN buildings in the distance when he spotted two police cars parked ahead. One cop blasted his siren and waved him over.

That's when it hit him. He was running down the middle of the FDR—a six-lane highway along Manhattan's east side! In his effort to keep moving while half-blind from rain, he'd accidentally ended up in the middle of a major freeway. No wonder the cop's first words were both shocked and totally unprintable.

He goes on: 

I mean, seriously! How can you run down the middle of a New York City freeway and not know it? I think the same way you can live your entire life oblivious to the grand Story of the Creator of the universe, an epic tale that is unfolding all around you. The same way you can spend your days making so much of someone as small and transient as you or me and so little of someone as glorious and eternal as God.

We need to pay attention to our spiritual condition. Today in prayer, confess to Jesus any distractions to your walk with the Lord. Seek to pay attention and follow Him in all that you do.

“The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention.” – Richard Moss

God’s Word: “Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the LORD.” – Psalm 107:43

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail   

DEVOTIONS IN HEBREWS           †

“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” – Hebrews 1:14

In an article in “The Christian Century”, Halford E. Lucock wrote: “We so often hear the expression “the voice of an angel” that I got to wondering what an angel would sound like. So I did some research, and discovered that an angel’s voice sounds remarkably like a person saying, “Hurry up!”

Until the time I took over, research had been blocked because it was based on the delusion that the voice of an angel would always be beautiful. The words “Get up” are rarely beautiful, never less so than at 7am. Yet that is always what the angels say when they are talking to men, as reported in the Bible. I can’t think of anything an angel ever said but, “Get up and hurry!” An angel comes to Peter in jail and says, “Rise quickly.” An angel says to Gideon, “Arise and go in this thy might.”’ An angel says to Elijah, “Arise and eat.” An angel appears to Joseph in a dream, when Herod is slaughtering the infants, and says, “Go quickly.” An angel appears to Philip and says, “Arise and go.” 

Really, the angels are monotonous talkers! They always say the same thing—”Arise, hurry!” But so is a firebell monotonous. If we are to be saved, it will be by monotony, the reiterated command, “Get up and get going!” 

Listen carefully and you can hear the voice of angels above the contemporary din of the world, a voice that ought to get us out of our lounge chairs and comfortable beds. “Arise, go quickly!” 

It might be a good idea to allow an angel to occupy the pulpit on Sunday. An irate hearer said to Samuel Barnett when he was canon of Bristol Cathedral in England, “I come to church to be comforted, and you sound like a fire alarm.” Perhaps there was a fire.”

Angels are ministering spirits sent to serve us and protect us. Today in prayer, praise the Lord that He has sent His angels to protect us.

“Could the veil be lifted, we would see that angels of God are around us to preserve us from unseen dangers. Thousands of times has their care been especially manifested for us in our warfare with the agencies of Satan.” - Ellen G. White

God’s Word: “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” – Psalm 91:11

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2025, Devotional E-Mail   

DEVOTIONS IN HEBREWS  †