Run With Endurance

Run with Endurance

Q: According to Hebrews 12, what helps you have endurance in your Christian life?

• a. keeping your eyes on Jesus
• b. going to church
• c. reading the Bible

Long before our modern-day Olympics, there were competitions held in Greece. The New Testament authors were familiar with these, and Hebrews 12 compares the Christian life to a long-distance race. It gives the keys to running the race well.

The first key to running the race well is to get rid of any extra weight, especially the sins that trip you up. No runner wants extra weight. Some runners train with weights strapped around their ankles, and then when they take the weights off, they run even faster. But no one wears the weights during the race. In the Christian life, different people are tripped up by different sins. One person might struggle with honesty while another struggles with anger. Those are weights that slow them down as they live for Christ.

The second way to run the race well is to keep your eyes on Jesus. Have you had field day at your school or with your homeschool group? If you run in one of the races, you don’t win by looking around and being distracted by other activities or by what your friends are doing. You keep your eyes on the finish line and head straight toward it as fast as you can.

Jesus is the example of how to run the race with endurance and not become distracted. He knew his path led to the Cross, and he never forgot why he was on earth. With each step he took as he taught others, healed the sick, rebuked the hypocrites, and made disciples, he kept his eyes on the finish line—his death and resurrection—in order to give us salvation.

For You

What things distract you from the race God has set you on? What do you need to do about them?

Answer: a

Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor.   Hebrews 12:1-2

(The Whole Story: Hebrews 12:1-13)