Life can be hard. That's probably not exactly news to anyone here, but it's true. Life can be hard.
Because life can be hard, it can be easy to get discouraged. And when we get discouraged, it can be easy for us to start doubting God. We start wondering if God hears our prayers, especially when we've been praying for a while and we don't see anything getting better. We start wondering if God really understands what we're going through, and if so, whether God actually cares. Sometimes, we can start wondering if God even exists at all.
Our reading from Hebrews today gives us some help when we feel that way. For those of you who were at the communion service a week and a half ago, this scripture actually is a continuation of the one we did then. The author of Hebrews has just gone through a long list of people were able to keep their faith despite the obstacles they faced. He points out that all those people were ultimately rewarded for their faith.
In today's reading, the author goes through even more of that, but in a much more summary fashion. He says he does not have time to cite all the examples of people who've kept their faith in spite of obstacles and have been rewarded for it. He refers to them as a “cloud of witnesses”, and then he says this: 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.
I don't know about you, but for me, that image really helps. Paul says our lives are a race. I think of it as a marathon.
Have you ever watched a marathon on TV, like in the Olympics or something? It starts out with there being a huge crowd around. Everyone is lining the streets, cheering the runners on. The starting gun goes off, and everyone starts running, and everyone is shouting encouragement. And they get off to a good start.
But then, as they go along, the crowd thins out. There are fewer people around to cheer us on. Sometimes there's hardly anybody. That's when it really gets hard. That happens in our lives sometimes. There are times when we feel like we're out there all alone, when it seems like there's no one around to give us encouragement or help. Those are the times when it can get really hard to keep going.
Now, there are places along the way where people gather. You've seen that, too. There are places where people will give the runners some water or Gatorade or something. And that happens in our lives, too. There are times, just when we're starting to feel really tired, when we get some help. We get some encouragement. We get refreshed and restored and it helps us keep going again.
But that only lasts so long. After a while, we can start to get tired again. We can start to get discouraged. It seems like we've going for a long time, and yet we still cannot see the finish line. We know the finish line has to be out there, somewhere, but we don't know where. We don't know how far away it is. And we're getting tired. And there seems to be no one around who cares and who wants to help us. And sometimes, we feel like we'd just like to quit.
Now, I don't know, but I suspect some of you probably feel like that sometimes. It would be pretty natural. You have lived a long time. And you are getting tired. And you're battling physical limitations that make your lives hard. And sometimes you feel like there's no one around who cares and who wants to help. And you feel like you want to quit.
But God does not want you to quit. There is no person on the earth who is not here for some reason. The fact that you're still here shows that God still wants you to be here. God still has things God wants you to do. God understands that you're tired, and that your lives can be hard sometimes, but God does not want you to quit.
That's why the author of Hebrews says we have to run the race with perseverance. Perseverance means “to keep going in spite of difficulties.” It means to keep going “in spite of obstacles”. It means to keep going “in spite of discouragement.” To persevere means to keep going, no matter what.
If we do that, we'll get to the finish line. Not only will we get there, but we'll be able to finish strong. And when we do, we'll see that great cloud of witnesses. We'll see all those people who've gone before us. We'll see all those people the author of Hebrews told us about, people who kept their faith in spite of all the obstacles and were rewarded for it. They'll be there cheering us on, welcoming us to the finish line.
And of course, you know who else is at that finish line. Jesus Christ. That's why we're told to fix “our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Jesus has already run this race. He prepared the way for each one of us to run it, too. And Jesus is standing there at the finish line, leading that cloud of witnesses in their cheers, and waiting to welcome us over that finish line and into heaven.
Life can be hard. As we run the race, we can get tired. We can get discouraged. But don't quit. Keep going. Persevere. Get to that finish line. All the greatest heroes of the Bible are cheering us on. And at the finish line is Jesus himself, waiting for us to cross that finish line and give us our reward.
No comments:
Post a Comment