For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God;but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:7-8 NKJV)

Briers are a thorny subject. Where I live, they are the bane of a farmer’s or rancher’s existence. The stubborn vines grow on everything and anything until they block the sunlight from reaching other plants. 

Jesus’ stories relating to farming strike a special chord in my hear having grown up on a farm. The verse above is especially meaningful to me. I know the value of rain. I understand the importance of cultivating the fields so that they will bear needed crops. I know the waste and barrenness that comes from a lack of continued tending of the cultivated field.

And I understand the danger of briers. Getting rid of them is a never-ending chore. They don’t surrender easil, and are quick to grow back if left untended.  

Hebrews 6 is full of wisdom, but we can’t skip over the title of this chapter. It is the key to grasping the significance of everything that follows. The NKJV states the title as The Peril of Not Progressing.

Peril . . .  as in serious danger or grave risk.

We understand the risk of not starting, but here we are told there is a peril to not continuing.

Don’t stay static

As followers of Christ, we place ourselves in danger when we stop growing or when we become complacent. The natural order of things is to return to its wild state. A plowed field doesn’t stay a plowed field. Under the care of continued tending, it will “bear herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated.” But without that attention, it will drift back into the wild state in which it originated. We are like the plowed field left untended when we fail to progress.

The Christian life is not a static life. We are either moving forward in sanctification, or we are drifting back to our original state. And that is truly a serious peril.

But this verse tells us it’s not just our peril we should be concerned about.

The specific word used for briers in this passage means “a prickly, wild plant hurtful to other plants.”

When we cease to tend to the field of our faith, we not only fail to produce good fruit, but we also allow the growth of briers that is hurtful to others.

Like it or not, we are witnesses for Christ in everything we do.

Consider those around you

At the very least, our complacency—or dare I say backsliding—tells those who are watching it’s not worth the effort. It gives them no reason to start the journey or to press on.

But more likely the briers of this broken world come in the form of stress, worry, fear, chaos, anger, unforgiveness, and a multitude of other things that diminish our witness. Others looking on are left wondering if it’s worth surrendering all to follow Christ.

Romans 14:21 warns us not to do anything to cause our brother to stumble. And again, in First Corinthians 8:9, we are warned not to be a stumbling block to our brother. Verse 12 carries this warning further, “But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.”

Our failure to progress is perilous, indeed, when it causes us to sin against Christ.

“ . . . but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.”

The word rejected means something that doesn’t prove to be what it ought. We say we are a follower of Christ, but it’s hard to be a follower when we aren’t moving. The result of such inaction will be barrenness (near to being cursed), and finally to be burned.

Has the peril of not progressing taken root in your field? Tend your faith now through a renewed devotion to prayer and study.

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