THE RACE BEFORE US
Hebrews 12:1-2...A cloud of witness over our heads--those people in Heaven are there because of Jesus...not because we hope they are there or that they were good folks on earth. They are there because they kept the faith! They believed the Gospel of Christ. They believed Jesus is Who He said He is and that His Death was to redeem those who would accept His Offering. Now His Death was not an easy thing--to experience the penalty for every sin of all humanity in Divine Justice...nor shall the Road to Zion be an easy thing for us! Following Christ is the most difficult; yet most rewarded choice we can make. It's a free gift. You can freely accept or reject it but not without consequences. There are spiritual laws just as there are natural laws. Gravity pulls a ball back to the earth as a natural law or force. To opt out of the Redemption from the Sin Curse leaves one being pulled into all that is not of God. Where there is Light also exists its counterpart of darkness and where there is Love, Peace and Joy....there is hate, confusion, worry, fear, and sadness waiting in the wings. Where there is Life and Healing, there exists its alternative of death, pain, and misery. It's a free choice, but do not mistake that nothing is expected in return. We are to surrender our will for His--laying down our lives and its desires to please self and allow Him to lead us on the road to Home. It's not an easy or simple thing to do...living for Christ. The verse goes on to say "laying aside every weight" and "sin" which surounds us, let us run by "patience" to the "fight" proposed to us.
That word "weight"---what's heavy on our minds, weighing down our spirits--that keeps us from moving freely, from doing what we need to, that keeps us from Him? What sin is affecting us? The world seems to deny that sin exists...many of us gloss over what "used" to be called sin. So many things have been downgraded to "culture" or "simplified" or even "exalted" as the new awakening!
Let us run by "patience" or rather by determination and endurance. Nobody runs a marathon at full speed . They pace themselves so as not to expend all their energy early and not be able to complete the course.
We have a lifetime of this "course". We need to use strategy, exercise our spirit, feed our souls, get needed rest and quiet time, and keep our focus on our goal going towards God in Heaven....not on the other runners, distractions around us, or any other task. Verse 2 says "looking on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, Who having joy set before Him, endured the Cross, despising the shame and now sitteth on the Right Hand of God".
An author writes. Our stories are already written. He knows everything about us before we are even born. Governments, hackers, spirits of the world and of the darkness will continue to "collect data and knowledge about us" to "appear" to know everything concerning us--but only God knows EVERYTHING!
He is the "finisher" of our faith. Perfection is a process. A diamond isn't produced in a day--but after a long crushing process becomes a glistening beauty of worth. Is this why Israel is represented by gemstones? Not everyone's journey is the same. The road to the Cross was not joyful...the joy set before Christ was seeing all of us taken out of the grasp of death, darkness and evil. He hated what we were suffering so He came to suffer and die to make a new and living way out for us! He opened the "portal" to Heaven, to Paradise, to the City of God! He now sits at the Right Hand of God welcoming moment by moment, soul after soul that has cried out to Him in faith.
In our everyday struggles, we must realize there are forces we cannot see that try to impede our journey. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers; against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against spirits of wickedness in high places. (Eph. 6: 12).
God's Word tells us to seek the things that are above where Christ is sitting at the Right Hand of God, not the things upon the earth. (Coloss. 3:1-2) That does not mean we walk around blind to what is happening here in this world...or like people texting and glued to their iphones...but to have hope and realize we cannot "fix" everything or everyone....we need to do good, be good, and know good while we are here and in our sphere of influence...that "sphere" has expanded incredibly due to technology....social media can be a tool for good or for evil. It can bless us and it can curse us---anything on earth can! Be aware and awake!
Many of us know all this and have been struggling for awhile...we may feel like hypocrites or like we lack faith or hang our heads in shame because we keep coming back to "start". We don't go all the way back to start....we just get knocked off balance, off to the side of the road, or injured in spirit. We need to catch our breath, forgive ourselves and others and re-evaluate where we are...how far we have come...remember where we had been...fix our eyes back on the road and keep going! This may mean making changes, withdrawing from people who are "thorns", recommitting ourselves (not re-baptizing) and learning from the mistakes and mishaps so as not to be so easily thwarted.
The Boston Bomber is a personification of evil to stop folks in their tracks...to interfere in the race. Satan is real, and his minions are real...and their mission is to injure, destroy and keep us from God any way they can....but also remember HEAVEN IS FOR REAL! As long as we keep believing and trying....we shall see Him as He is ...and we shall be like Him! (1 John 3:2)
