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Run Your Race

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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV)

I am not a runner but recently my daughter and son-in-law told us that they were going to be running in a race in Utah.  Jeremy is running in a marathon and Amanda is running a half marathon. My first thought was, Amanda, running? She has never been athletic. They are preparing for the big race.  Preparing for a race takes time and discipline. You do not just decide to run a race and go out tomorrow and run.  

A race is similar to the life of a Christian. That is why the author of Hebrews uses running as an example. “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” As Christians, what is this race? It is all this life. The entire Christian life is a race and if our eyes wander from Jesus, we become weary. Let me ask a question: has following Christ become difficult yet? This last year has been tough. Has your heart become sluggish to the things of Christ? Have you felt yourself protesting living in ways a Christian ought? The author of Hebrews calls us in this passage to endure because he knows we are prone to weariness and we often take our eyes off Jesus. But we know as Christians there is no relief outside of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the author goes on to write, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” Jesus is not only the founder and perfecter of our faith, but He also gives us the strength to endure in our faith. This is a hard long race, and we must look to Jesus for endurance so that we make it to the finish line. Think about this last year and how it has been difficult for you and your family. How has Jesus helped us endure? Jesus is our help because He Himself “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” We are only able to endure because Jesus endured pains for us, and we are strengthened in our Christian race because Jesus humbled himself by suffering and dying for our sin.

Endurance does not eliminate joy. Do not miss that. It was “for the joy that was set before Him”. Enduring by looking to Christ as our source provides us with all-satisfying joy. I would say, apart from an enduring and persevering faith, joy cannot be found, but is only found as we run to Christ with all our might. We run the race but Jesus gives us the strength to do it. Let us run with endurance.  Remember. We will win with Jesus!

Pastor Dan

Photo by Jeremy Lapak on Unsplash

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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