Post 45 of Study; Hebrew 7 and more random thoughts

I imagine this series will go on to about 60 or 70 posts.  I don't know what I will do with them afterward.  I hope there are readers--please comment or send me an email at btbarbaratucker11@gmail.com if you have questions, if you came across this and would like to talk. 

Something that evangelicalism (a movement I have more or less stepped away from due to the political connections) has not communicated well, in my humble opinion, is that Christian faith is a journey, not a moment in time.  I don't like to use the word progressive, because, again, of its political associations, but there is a progression motif in the Christian experience that has been overlooked. 

We hear it in experiential songs, that "something happened, and now I know, He touched me and made me whole." One time did it all. I decided it for Jesus and that took care of it.  

I mean, didn't Jesus say, "It is finished" on the cross and then died? Shouldn't His death close this all out? 

Yes, and no. Theologically, yes, experientially, it is very clear from Scripture that the first step of belief is not the cure-all, end-all. If Hebrews teaches anything, it teaches that. 

And, it might be that even the cross was not the end all. 

"Therefore He is also able to save ^[h]to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them."

Why is Christ still making intercession for all who come to God through Him?" Why is He still serving as High Priest if He took care of all this sin problem permanently and decisively?  

Because of who we are, not because He is insufficient. Be grateful that this teaches such a doctrine. Otherwise, once we believe and then we still sin, we would give it all up, thinking His promise was not true. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The early Christians knew they still sinned; Paul surely did--just read Romans 7. 

Now, to the point, practically. Every day in the Christian life is a choice. No choice is once for all. Every day of life is a choice--to do whatever it is that is the right thing. Even from a dietary choice, we can't say one day--I'll stop eating doughnuts--and not keep making that decision, consciously, every day. Ask an alcoholic about that. And I'm talking about more than doughnuts here. Even marriage is a daily choice, or at least the choice to fulfill one's marriage vows, to love as one should.