You Can Do It!

"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." ~Hebrews 12:1-2

I like this verse a lot. I like to think about that “great cloud of witnesses” - the great people who lived a life of faith hundreds of years before I was born. I am not great… but Abraham, Gideon, Samuel, David, and those like them are up there cheering for little ol’ me. Imagine a big race with lots of exuberant fans on the sidelines, cheering me on. Even when a racer is tired and feeling like he might not make it, a bunch of enthusiastic cheering usually helps them hang on a little longer. But imagine guys (and girls!) like those faith hall-of-famers being the ones urging you on, saying “you can do it”, and knowing you can do it because they did!

But you don’t try to run a race wearing a backpack and layers and layers of clothing, because it slows you down, makes you tired too soon, and it’s much less likely that you’ll finish the race. So you’ve got to throw off that junk, leave it on the roadside. You don’t need it. It’s the same with sin and all the worldly stuff we get caught up in; it makes it SO hard to run the race.

The only way to keep on with the race - what we’re suppose to be doing in this life- is to keep our eyes on the finish line. Jesus. I learned that phrase “fixing our eyes” really means to turn away from everything else. Even things that seem ok, like friends and family, even the way we serve, can take our eyes off Jesus. He is the only perfect example of faith - he even “authored” it!

One huge thing to keep in mind is that Jesus suffered more than any of us will ever be called to suffer. But he got through it because of the great JOY that he knew was coming. That part is the same for us; whatever we go through here and now, we are assured that the joy to come is SO much greater! I want to learn how to worship God with my whole life, my whole being, all the time. It’s easy to praise when things are going great. But when the hard times come - and they will, in varying degrees for all of us - if we don’t have a solid foundation in the word of God, then everything will come crashing down around us and the “whys” will be too much for us to bear. Our faith will fail if it is built on fluff. That’s part of why I’m trying to grow in not just my knowledge of the Bible, but in my understanding of it.