(By Theanna Joyce)
I didn’t notice that the words were off center until I was almost done the line. A better embroiderer would have undone the last few words, recounted, and then continued, but I didn’t love this new hobby enough and my desire to be finished had grown past any hopes of perfection.
The words on the fabric read, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). I thought this verse was the coolest thing ever—and the rest of the chapter too, which commends person after person who stepped out in faith. They trusted God even when that next step was unthinkable—absurd, impossible, dangerous, painful.
Imagine having faith like that.
The mood changes in Chapter 12. After looking back on the “heroes of faith,” the author of Hebrews now looks to us. Being surrounded by such witnesses, the author appeals to us to live with the same dedication and faith motivated by our hope in Jesus. We are to lay aside distractions and sin and we are to run.
I don’t know if you know this, but running is hard. (Some might even call it absurd.) You have to put one foot in front of the other and not give up.
How do we do this? How do we not give up when our hearts can’t take another hit? When it would be so much easier to throw in the towel, to do things our way rather than His, to be one of them rather than one set apart?
Verse 3 has an answer, and it is, “consider Him.” Consider Jesus, the one who sinners hated. Consider Jesus, the one who suffered.
We live in a world that glorifies busyness and would never give us any time to consider Jesus. Can you take time right now to consider Jesus? Read through a gospel or a messianic passage like Isaiah 53.
Look at who He is. See what He does. Consider the One who knows you completely and loves you.
Verse five gives us another answer on how not to give up. We are to remember that we are God’s sons! The hardships we go through are not pointless, but proof that God is working in us. Jesus himself, the ultimate Son, is described as learning obedience through what he suffered and being perfected through suffering (Hebrews 2:10-11; 5:8).
Will this not also be true of us as God our Father sanctifies us by the Holy Spirit?
Your problems are big and your suffering is great. The enemy would have you give up, convince you that the race is too long and your legs are too tired. But Jesus ran the race before you and He is with you to give you victory!
The cloud of witnesses is around us, cheering us towards the finish. Draw strength from Romans 8:16-17,
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
He is our Father who dearly loves us. Let us trust Him for He will not abandon us.
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