Reading through the Bible, we see many warnings about wandering from the faith. They are in both the Old and New Testaments. In Hebrews 3, we see a warning about wandering from the faith from the Old Testament example of the Israelites that were led through the wilderness for forty years.
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways’; As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” Hebrews3:7–11NASB1995
I have said on many occasions that allowing sin to remain in our lives is dangerous. The Holy Spirit continually shows us the sin in our lives that is separating us from God. We either deal with the sin and continue in right relation with God or we choose to keep the sin and ignore the Holy Spirit. That is how we harden our hearts against God.
It is a slippery slope when we choose not to deal with sin because it allows other sins to take root in our lives. Once this begins to happen, we accelerate the hardening of our heart against God. It becomes more and more difficult to hear God speaking to us. This puts us in a dangerous condition where we can actually deny our faith in God.
The author of Hebrews gives us clear warning and we would do well to, not only listen but examine our lives to see if we are cherishing sin over God.
“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end…” Hebrews3:12–14NASB1995
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for the incredible sacrifice you made to make me right with God! Help me to listen to your Spirit and continually confess and turn from sins that harden my heart against you. Amen.
Thinking About and Being a Child of God 