Land · Body
Your legs feel like stone, and the road still stretches ahead. Then the course turns onto a street lined with people. They don’t know your name, but they cheer anyway, and someone holds out a cup of water as you pass. The ground under your feet hasn’t changed, but now you can run it. Who is lining the road for you?
The writer has just listed the faithful who went before, from Abel to the prophets (Hebrews 11). “Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2 WEB). The race is “set before us”: the course is already marked out.
The race is run on ground already marked out, and Jesus has finished it. “For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.” (Hebrews 12:3 WEB). The writer goes on to call hardship the Father’s discipline (Hebrews 12:7).
Spiritual Move: Simplicity. Pick one thing that weighs you down, a habit or an object. Lay it aside today, and give the time back to God.
Photo by Miguel A Amutio on Unsplash