Keep on running with Jesus
June 22, 2008 (Sunday)
The Christian life is compared to a race (Hebrews 12:1-2). The starting point is conversion to Christ, and the finish line is departure to Heaven. The track is life itself.
You have three incentives to run the race well: Enthusiastic Encouragement, Demanding Discipline, and a Strong and Sympathetic Savior.
Enthusiastic encouragement is yours as you consider the example of those who have already run their race. They are witnesses to us in the same way a witness testifies in the courtroom. The lives they lived witness to us and encourage us to give our best to the Christian Race. Hebrews 11 is the backdrop of Hebrews 12, listing the great runners of the Old Testament. The New Testament reveals others who followed, and history tells of many who have come after them. You are not alone in your race. Others have run. So can you.
Demanding discipline is required of those who run the Christian race. You must lay aside anything that would slow you down, and you must avoid sin, because it will trip you and cause you to fall. When you get very tired, you must keep going at all costs, remembering the value that Jesus placed upon endurance to the end.
A strong and sympathetic Savior set the example for you as He gave His all to make salvation possible. You are in the race because of Him and His great love for you and a lost world. You are running the race for Him who is the “author and finisher” of our faith. He is with you as you begin, and He will be with you to the end of the race.
At the end of his life, the Apostle Paul wrote, “I have finished the race” (2 Tim 4:7). He then wrote, “I have kept the faith.” He ran well. Let us do the same.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV).