"Therefore, being 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 that is marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him 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 sinful men, and so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12:1-3)

I thought I would share some things that we can learn from this verse. We have all read this countless of times but do we really understand the lesson the Hebrews writer wanted to present. 

Something that is becoming more and more apparent about today's church - today's Christian - is that we are great sprinters, but we are lousy marathoners. Those of you who have watched the movie fast and the furious, our lives are becoming just that. We do no pace ourselves. It is amazing how quickly our enthusiasm leaves us. It is astonishing how fast we grow tired of things. It is astounding how quickly we grow weary of our ministries.

 There is only one race that God has marked out for us - holiness. All through scripture God has always taught us to be Holy as he is Holy. The writer of Hebrews compares our Christian life as that of a marathon. This is not a sprint. 

The bible is full of examples of godly men and women who persevered.  "We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses". Consider Joseph who was sold by his brothers into slavery and waited for God's will in his life to work itself out. or the apostles who persevered. The apostle Paul put it bluntly when he said "follow my example". 1 Corinthians 11:1. This cloud of witnesses who have completed the race are examples that all shout out with us "keep running you can make it". 

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, who could have sprinted his way back to Heaven, but his life was far more than a quick fix for our lives. Why do we feel that we should be able to pray ourselves into a life of comfort,wealth,and health?  

So what causes us to loose focus. The writer says to throw of everything that hinders us.  The hinderances he is talking about may not just be sinful things. There may be a relationship, a hobby, a type of music, a type of literature, a form of entertainment, an activity, a habit, that in and of itself is not immoral, but is clearly a hindrance to running the race marked out for God's people. We must "throw off" such things!  The marathoner the writer compares us to stripped down or got naked to run the race. 

What sin entangles us. The sin here in this verse is central in all of us. It's the sin, that entangles all of us. We all struggle with this sin. It's the sin of wanting to run the race the way we want to run it.  Not yielding to what God wants us to do. We want things done fast furious and as easily as possible so we can get back to sitting on our couch. We want to gain the pleasures of the world, and not make the sacrifice.  We want to loose weight, but not work to make that happen. 

 "What does a man profit if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" We are talking about being marathoners in holiness. Is there anything more important than this?!

So when can we stop running this race?  When God says so!  

Did you know that there is only one place in the New Testament where Jesus is revealed standing in the heavenly realm. Every place but this one, He is described as "seated at the right hand of the Father". But, in this one place He is standing. The occasion is Stephen's stoning recorded in the book of Acts; "Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). Its as if Jesus stood to catch Stephen, hug him and say, "Stephen, you can stop running now. You've finished the race. Victoriously!"

Good marathoners fix their eyes on the finish line and don't stop running until they reach it. Therefore, let us learn from the witnesses, throw off everything that hinders, be done with the sin that so easily entangles, fix our eyes on Jesus (the finish line), and run until He stands to catch us and says, "Okay, stop running now; You've finished the race. Enter into my rest."

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