Hebrews 12: 1-3 – “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  ³ Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

Hebrews 11 lays out a list of Christians who trusted God, and obeyed His calling on their lives.  These people were no different than you or I, and God used them in amazing ways simply because they trusted and followed Him.

It with that in sight, God in the passage above calls us individually to live our lives with the same purpose.  What is weighing you down?  Keeping you from pursuing and serving God as you ought to?  Maybe it is something from your past that you are holding on to.  Maybe it’s your current life circumstances.  Maybe it is sin you are currently struggling with, and you’re trying to clean up your life before you come to God.  The gospel, the good news of Jesus, is that your past has been paid for, your sin has been defeated, and the righteousness of God has been given to you by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.  Jesus died for your past and your sin.

We often feel such a burden to “do” something, when all we’re called to do is look to Jesus and trust in what he has done.

A life lived by faith will not look pretty.  You can look at the people listed in Hebrews 11 and find that the people included were broken, flawed people.  Likewise, they encountered struggles and trials from the world and even those they cared about.  David alone was an adulterer, murderer, liar, and guilty of unbelief in God’s ability to save multiple times in his life.  Even in his sin, David was unrepentant, until finally being confronted by the prophet Nathan – yet he was called a “man after God’s own heart”.  David also encountered family members who rose up against him, and sought to kill him.  So David was acquainted of the sorrows and trials of this life well.

How can we live our life with endurance?  By looking to Christ and the joy that awaits us in Him for eternity.  In Numbers 21, the people of Israel prayed that God would take away the serpents that were killing them.  What did God do?  He did not remove the serpents – people were still bitten.  Numbers 21:8 – “the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”  God does not promise us an easy life, but He has shown us the Way of life in Jesus.  Taste and see that the Lord Jesus is good, that in Him we have redemption from sin and righteousness in Christ, and that in knowing Him intimately and His love for you are pleasures forevermore.  Like a runner who is running a race to win – cast off those things that weigh you down and keep you from Christ, continually entrusting yourself to the founder and perfecter of your faith.

Grace and Peace,

Adam