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. 2 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. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
My Understanding: This passage in Hebrews 12 begins by using the word “therefore,” meaning “for that reason” or “as a result” and the word “since,” which means “because” or “in view of the fact,” to point back to the detailed description of the heroes of the faith of old in Hebrews 11, as well as to point forward to what should result in our lives, because of the actions and faith of those mentioned in the previous chapter, who set the example for us as to the true meaning of faith. As I read back over chapter 11, I realized that there were several common denominators among the people of the faith listed and described in chapter 11:
• A call, a command and/or a promise of God had been issued and/or understood
• They followed the call, obeyed the command and/or acted in faith based upon and believing in a promise
• Their faith was proved genuine by their actions
• Perseverance and determination in follow-through even over lengthy time periods
These heroes of the faith were described as a “cloud of witnesses,” i.e. that, in a sense, they are the audience at our race who encourage us and who cheer us on, because they have gone before us as examples of how to persevere, how to obey, and how genuine faith is faith that is proved right by actions, which demonstrate that true faith exists in our lives.
Where would Noah’s faith be, for instance, if all he did was say he believed but he never acted on that faith and he never built the ark? Where would Abraham’s faith be if he remained where he was and did not act on that belief in God’s promise of an heir from his own body? Where would the faith of the people of Israel be if they did not step into the Red Sea or if they did not march around the walls of Jericho? You say this is works-based salvation and we are now under grace. No! The Bible teaches that Abraham was justified by his faith and that the rest of these heroes of the faith were also made righteous because of their faith, not because of what they did. What they did was just evidence that they had true faith. So, genuine faith is proved by action that accompanies that confession of faith.
We have such great examples of this kind of genuine faith given to us, which serve to encourage and to strengthen us, and which demonstrate for us that if the heroes of the faith did what they did by faith, we can also do whatever God calls us to do, also by that same faith. Since this is true, then we should:
Throw off everything
The first thing to throw off is everything that hinders us in us running in and completing the race marked out for us. There are so many good things out there to do, but we have to find what is God’s best for us, i.e. his specific calling upon each one of our lives, and we need to throw off anything and everything that hinders us from running the race God has given us to run. Satan is really good at the art of good distractions that keep us continually stepping into the sidelines so that we are not on the race track running. So, we need to know what we are called to be and to do in the Lord’s service and we need to set aside the time needed to do what he has called us to do so that we are not continually being drawn to other things of less importance. We may be called to more than one area of ministry, so there we must prioritize our time so that we are able to do first things first, while remaining sensitive to those divine opportunities to administer God’s love to people that he may bring our way.
The second thing to throw off is the sin that entangles us. The Christian life here is being compared to running a race. Our prize at the end of the race is eternity with God/Jesus in heaven. Our goal should be to walk by faith, as did these heroes of old, who proved their faith as genuine by what they did in heart response to Almighty God. So, in running this race, if we come across a snare or trap and our feet become entangled in the snare or trap, we are stopped dead in our tracks and the trap causes us to lose our balance and to fall to the ground. That is what sin does to us, too. We can’t walk in faith and obedience to God/Jesus if our feet are ensnared because we were entrapped by our enemy and his lies. So, we need the grace of Jesus to free us from our entrapments, so that we can continue to run the race marked out for us, i.e. we need to be freed from the control of sin over our lives on a daily basis, not just free from the ultimate penalty of sin.
Run with perseverance
When God has determined the race he has marked out for us to run, which he has already done, we need to run that race with perseverance, i.e. we need to not quit, we need to not give up running, we need to be free from distractions and be free from entrapments and snares that catch us and that keep us from running. We are all called to obedience to Christ and to holiness. We are all called to take up our crosses daily and to die to our old selfish natures and to put on the new self, created to be like Christ Jesus. We are all called to faith in Jesus Christ – faith that is proved by her actions. We are all called, as believers, to forsake our sin and to turn and then to walk (in this case run) toward Jesus Christ and the path that he has for us to take. We are all called to love one another, to be kind and compassionate, forgiving, nurturing, etc. And, we are all called to be Christ’s witnesses and to make disciples of all nations. And, Jesus Christ promises that he will give us all we need to run this race, for it will be him doing it in us and through us. So, we must persevere in what we already know to do. Yet, our Lord has a specific calling for each one of us, as well, and we need to persist in that, too.
Fix our eyes on Jesus
Jesus is our motivation for the race. He is the prize at the end. He is the finish line. He is the goal we are hoping to achieve by running in the race. The race is not about us, it is about Jesus Christ and us following him and being and doing what he has called us to be and to do. So, our eyes should be fixed on him, not on the people on the sidelines calling out to us to go with them here or there to do this or that which would take us away. And, Jesus is our most important and the only perfect example we have to follow for how to run this race. He is the author of our faith, i.e. faith is a gift of His grace, and he is the one who will perfect our faith, as we yield control of our lives over to our new Master, Jesus Christ.
Jesus set the example for us when he endured the cross, scorning its shame. His goal, which he had in mind, was the joy of bringing salvation to a world in need of a Savior. That is how he was able to endure the pain leading up to the cross and the pain of the cross, as well as the worst pain of all - that of taking upon himself all the sins of the world. Our sins were crucified and buried with him, but then he rose triumphant over death, hell, Satan and sin, so that we could go free from the penalty and control of sin. Knowing what his death and resurrection would mean for us and our freedom is what motivated him to persevere to the cross. When we feel weary and we feel like giving in to our emotions and/or to sin, disappointment, discouragement, etc. we should consider Jesus Christ and what he endured for us so that we could go free, so that we do not lose heart or grow weary and give up.
Not lose heart
All throughout the New Testament we are told that following Jesus Christ means taking up our cross, it means dying to our old sinful natures, and it means being risen with Christ to new life that is free from the control of sin and is free to walk in obedience to our Lord Jesus. We also learn that following Jesus Christ with our lives means sharing in the fellowship of his sufferings and being disciplined by God as a loving father disciplines his children in order to train them to live rightly.
God disciplines us, too, for our good, that we may share in his holiness, so part of our running this race means enduring hardship as the discipline of God in our lives so that, later on, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Human nature wants to avoid such discipline or find a way to squirm out of it, yet this, too, is part of running in this race, and is necessary to train us in holy living so that we can have an impact on the lives of others so that they, too, may know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Our duel goal in running this race should be to first of all please God, by his grace through our faith, and second of all to desire to demonstrate God’s love to others by loving them in the way Jesus Christ loves us, and gave himself up for us so that we could go free.
Much Too High A Price / Jesus Paid It All / Phil McHugh and Greg Nelson
You paid much too high a price for me, Your tears, Your blood, the pain –
To have my soul just stirred at times yet never truly changed.
You deserve a fiery love that won’t ignore your sacrifice
Because You paid much too high a price.
http://www.music-lyrics-gospel.com/gospel_music_lyrics/much_too_high_a_price_9499.asp
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