shawnethomas

(Preached at FBC Pauls Valley 2-15-15)

Although I have run for exercise for much of my adult life, I have never been very fast. When we lived in Tulsa back in the 1990’s (when I was in my 30’s) I was probably in the best shape of my life and I had still never broken a 6:00 mile, though I had hovered just above it. Our running club was participating in a road race in Tulsa called The Cherry Street Mile, which had the added advantage of having a long downhill stretch to the finish line, so I was hoping to break 6:00 and set a new personal record. As the run progressed towards the finish line, I could see that the clock up ahead at the finish line was still in the 5:00’s, and I did not have that much farther to go. I looked over at the crowd of people who lined the last few hundred yards to the finish line and I saw an older gentleman who was part of our club, but who wasn’t running that day. I looked up at the clock, then I looked over at him, and I raised my arms and hollered triumphantly: “I’m gonna break 6 minutes!” He pointed ahead and shouted back: “Keep your eyes on the finish line!” (Cheryl always tells me I can’t leave you hanging; I did get my eyes back on the finish line, and I finished with a 5:45 mile, a new personal record, and barring a miracle in my old age, will end up being the fastest mile I ever ran.)

The author of Hebrews 12 is doing for us as Christians what that senior gentleman did for me on the run that day. The Book of Hebrews was written to a group of confessing Christians who were tempted to ditch their faith in Jesus due to persecution, and return to the relatively safe haven of traditional Judaism. So throughout the book, the author proclaims the superiority of Jesus, in His Person and Work. Chapter 11, the one preceding this one, comprises “The Hall of Faith” of those who walked with God by faith through various trials. It is in that context, then, that the author encourages all of us who are following Jesus:

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith …”. Continue reading →