Okay, sorry to jump right back in the middle of this, but I’m picking up right where I left off in the last blog--meaning back to good old Hebrews 12:1-3. Oh my, there’s some mighty good stuff in these few verses!
“Therefore, 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, 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. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you do not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Heb.12:1-3)
So we lay aside weight (last blog), but we also need to look to Jesus as we run with endurance the race set before us. v.2 puts it this way: “looking to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith...” And in v.3, we’re exhorted: “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself.”
We look to Jesus initially for salvation, but we also look to Him daily in an attitude of dependency and trust. Looking and considering Jesus means keeping your focus on Christ. Focus--what a life-changing word that can be, for as I once heard it said, “Where you stare, you steer.” Don’t look around in comparison or envy--look up. Don’t look behind in regret or shame--look up. And don’t look ahead in worry or anxiety--look up.
Eric Liddell, the beloved Scottish runner who won an Olympic gold in the 1926 Olympics and later died in China while serving as a missionary, once said: “As a Christian, I challenge you. Have a great aim. Have a high standard. Make Jesus your ideal...make Him an ideal not merely to be admired but also to be followed.” If we keep our focus trained on our Savior, then we will be following Him.
And as we keep our gaze locked on Jesus, we need to run the race set before us. Oh my, how much misery comes from worrying about all the other runners around us or wishing we were running some race other than the one sovereignly ordained for us by God.
Here’s the thing: we all have only this one life, this one race, and we’re the only person who can run our unique race during our brief stay on this planet. How can we run effectively and with endurance if we’re constantly looking around in discontentment or discouragement? No, all that does is slow us down, cause us to stumble, and forfeit so much joy, peace, and power God wanted us to experience in the midst of our race.
v.3 reminds us that looking to Jesus also includes “considering” Him. We ponder and contemplate our wonderful Savior and all the hostility and suffering He endured so that we won’t grow weary or fainthearted in our race. Oh my, don’t we need this reminder, because when the going gets tough in our race, we tend to grow self-preoccupied and self-pitying. When we get sick...or our loved one struggles...or someone criticizes us...or our well laid plans fall to pieces--it’s all too easy to give up in despondency, grow bitter and angry, or simply give in to a big, old pity-party.
But not if we consider our Savior and all He endured for us. I remember our pastor, Leon Tucker, saying one time that when things get hard, he’ll sometimes say, “Well, where are the nails? I don’t see any nails.”
Yep, that pretty much puts it in perspective, doesn’t it? As v.4 says, “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” None of us ever have--or ever will--come close to bearing the weight, horror, and shame of all sin for all time. None of us will ever experience what it means to be the Creator of the very people who betray, torture, and reject You. None of us will ever know what it is to relinquish the infinite wonders of heaven and perfect fellowship with Your Father to willingly come to earth to die. And none of us will ever, ever know what it is to be abandoned by God at a cross.
But Jesus did...so that we’d never, ever have to. When you consider all that Christ endured and suffered for us, how can you not be encouraged and strengthened in the midst of your own race to keep running with endurance?
Father, keep us focused and faithful in our races. Help us to continually look to Jesus as we run and to consider Him and all He endured, so that we might persevere in our own races all the way to heaven, Your glorious finish line.
To God be the glory.
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