Hebrews 12:1 13 The preceding chapter in the book of Hebrews is the great faith chapter which describes the great men and women of the Old Testament who heard from God and by faith did as they were directed. They saw the race that was marked out for them and they ran it faithfully. Is there a race marked out for us? Do we have a directive from God? If so how do, we find out what it is? The writer of Hebrews tells us that a great cloud of witnesses surrounds us. Whether they are actually in the "grandstands" observing us is not the important issue here. The fact is that they have left us a legacy in their testimonies. We can see that as they heard from God they obeyed. In many cases they had not even a clue what God had in mind. God said it, and understand or not, they obeyed. In most cases God directed as they went. Hebrews gives us some help in getting started on our race. First of all, he says get rid of everything that might be a hindrance to our "race". Included here is certainly the sin that seem to snag us on every turn; but also, things that under ordinary circumstances might be just fine, but in the race, they are hindrances. He tells us to run with perseverance which means that we keep on going even when everything around us tells us to quit. We are to "fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith." He becomes at the same time our example and the one who gives direction, encouragement and fine tuning to our race. Jesus didn't focus so much on the cross as on the results to be gained by the cross experience, that is our salvation. If we look at the daily drudgery, we tend to become discouraged and want to quit. As we focus on the prize at the end: eternal life, the commendation "well done good and faithful servant." and souls won for Jesus; it becomes worth whatever it takes.

There Is a Race Marked Out for Us