“Knowing Christ is the best thing that has ever happened to me, although winning the US Open was a pretty good second.”
The Blessing
Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21As we complete our series on Hebrews 13, it seems appropriate to end with a blessing! It is a blessing which is full of content – who God is, the dead of Jesus, the resurrection, the eternal state are all covered.
God is the God of peace – he brings peace into our lives. In John 16 Jesus told his followers that they would have trouble in the world but that he had come to give them peace. He offers the same peace to us.
The team of Jesus is at the centre of everything. The reference to the “blood of the eternal covenant” is powerful. But death could not hold him. He is alive for ever more!
There are so many ways to describe Jesus. That the writer chooses “the great Shepherd of the sheep” stresses Jesus’ pastoral care for all of us.
The promise in the verses is that Jesus will equip us and it is a double-edged equipping. We are to do his will as he works in us to make us pleasing to God.
Now that is a lot to take in at one go! Be blessed as you serve Jesus in the world of sport today, striving to please him and to accept and share his peace with others.