Coming up short can be heart-breaking, frustrating and even life-threatening. Have you watched a professional golfer’s putt come just two inches short? Have you had family members stop just three credits short of a college degree? Do you know any fellow workers who always seem to stop short of finishing a job?
Sometimes coming up short can be trivial, but when it comes to the Christian life, it can be eternally detrimental. The inspired author of the book of Hebrews was pleading with Christians to NOT “drift away” and “depart from the living God” (Heb. 2:1; 3:12). He sought to motivate them by dwelling on the “promise that remains of (the people of God) entering His rest” (4:1, 9). But he issued a sobering warning, “let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it” (4:1).
Can you imagine ANYTHING worse than “coming short” of heaven?! That’s why the author later says, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall” (4:9). Are you making every effort to not come short of it?