AN INSPIRING HERITAGE. Hebrews 12:1 When reading this verse, I imagine a person either preparing to run a marathon or having been running for a long time, considering dropping out of the race. The effort required to press on toward the goal seems too great, and the goal too far away. Then he looks up and sees a “great cloud of witnesses” watching. They are those who ran the race in past ages and generations, completing it and facing the challenge of living by faith, even though they didn’t see any results at the time.
Those examples from the past finished their race and passed the baton of truth and faith to us, to carry as a testimony of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn’t have the privilege of “looking unto Jesus” as a man among men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, but saw by faith “through a glass darkly” who He was and what He would accomplish. Those people of faith are examples of the power of faith and witnesses to the faithfulness of God.
The Christian life is not a sprint but a long-distance run that requires a lifetime of patience, prayer, perseverance, practice, persistence, and power. It is faith, not by sight, that keeps us focused on the prize afar off. We are not left alone to struggle through the trials and pains of living a life of faith in a godless world. A great temptation and danger in the Christian life is to remain stationary. To say, “I am saved, so I can settle down in leisure, without fear of being lost, and simply wait for the Lord to take me home or come for the church at the rapture!” Long-suffering is needed to hold fast to faith, and it motivates us to press on to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Every day we commit ourselves to drawing near to God in the Holiest and living there in the power of the eternal life we possess, and that possesses us. The “great cloud of witnesses” encourages us to follow their examples of faith and patience to the very end. The “weight” is either unbelief or the flesh, or a combination of the two, that may seem pleasant but must be thrown away. We can’t just have the best of both worlds. It is one or the other.
The nature of sin is to ensnare us and prevent us from moving forward in faith, which is a sure hope. We may have a private sin we think no one knows about, but God does. It may be a simple weakness we allow, but we cannot run the race unless it is laid aside, cast away, and rejected. Running the race demands the surrender of the heart and mind, as well as setting aside fleshly interests to run with patience.