Daily Devotional

“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

As I observe my own life and the lives of others, I have come to realize that our life paths are all different.  God has set before us, as if it were, a unique race to run. There are a lot of similarities to our races, but similarity does not mean identical.  The course we travel through life will at times have detours, potholes, construction zones, and difficulties that make a difference in how we traverse what God has designed for our life.  What I have found to be true is that the detours, potholes and constructions zones, are the difficult times in which I grow spiritually.  I grow some when life is going well, but I grow a lot more when I go through the difficult times.

When we struggle to keep running spiritually, the writer of Hebrews encourages us to remember the men and women of Scripture that ran their God designed course by faith.  They kept their eyes on the faith-inspired goal that God had given them.  Nothing detoured them but they continued faithfully following their spiritual path.  These men and women are described in Hebrews 11 and are in what many have called “God’s Hall of Faith.”  Today, these heroes of the faith encourage us to keep going and to continue to live by faith.
Since everyone’s journey is different, difficult times will come in our course, and we will often look at others.  The temptation is to look at the race they are running and feel that their course is easier.  We would rather run their race, but we don’t see the whole course they will run.  We need to remember that God is the one who has marked out the race planned for us.  The course may seem easy at times but also very difficult at other times, making it a struggle to keep going.

There are many things in life that can hinder us from running effectively and can easily entangle us.  They tend to trip us up and keep us from running our race well.  The hinderances are not usually big things but are often little things that we hang on to, weighing us down and taking our eyes off the goal.  To run well, we need to set these things aside and fix our eyes on Jesus.  He is the pioneer, the One who blazes the trail in front of us.  Jesus experiences all the hardships of our course in front of us.  As we follow Him, He matures our faith.  We grow to trust Him more as He takes us through every hardship and struggle.  Jesus is our example to follow.  He has endured the shame, suffering and temporary rejection of the Father to pay the penalty for all sin. He was able to do this because of the joy that was set before Him.  Jesus completed the Father’s will, rose from the dead and is exalted at the Father’s right hand. When life doesn’t make sense and we face the rough places, we need to keep our focus on Christ and follow His example of endurance.  It is helpful to ask ourselves these questions:

• What areas of unbelief entangles us and hinders us from effectively running the race of life?
• How is Christ’s example an encouragement to us?
• What steps can we take this week to keep from giving up?
• How can we apply these truths to our family life?

Prayer: “Lord, when the things of life seem so difficult, remind me of the men and women who lived a life of faith and remained faithful to You as they endured the worst of circumstances.  When I feel weak, strengthen me and help me to keep my eyes on Christ, following His example.”  Amen

New International Version (NIV)
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