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Running The Race With Patience Hebrews 12:1 ¶ Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Hebrews 12 is a continuation of chapter 11, which is commonly called, the faith chapter, and God’s Hall of Fame. The writer is asking us to consider those who have successfully run this race before us. First we have Abel, Enoch and Moses. Then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who saw the promises afar off and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers on this earth. They looked for a city whose builder and maker is God (Heb.11:16). Others who remain nameless, known only to God, had trial of cruel mockings and scourging, bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth (Heb. 11:36-40). These all finished running the course that was set before them. They didn’t have an easy race, but they finished it and received the approval of our Lord and Master. The writer urges us to run the race that is set before us with patience. How easily we get discouraged when things don’t work out as we had planned. The course that we are running is not one of our own choosing. It is strait and narrow, as opposed to the broad way that leads to destruction (Mt. 7:13-14). Our course has no detours. It only runs in one direction. If we get weary, we have only to look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith and consider what He went through. When we do, we realize that our trials and difficulties are really nothing. We have not yet resisted unto blood (Heb. 12:4). We are urged to lay aside besetting sins and the things that weigh us down. Just like in bible times, runners of today train with weights strapped to their legs. Come race time and the weights are released. The runner feels energized when they are released and runs faster. Our weights were released at Calvary. We shouldn’t be trying to put them back on (Ga. 5:1; II Peter 5:20). Our courses may vary, but the goal remains the same. Nor do we all have the same tasks. We can’t all be the preacher, we don’t all have visible gifts and talents, but whatever we have been assigned, we are expected to finish (I Cor. 12:12-26). We are not to be discouraged when we receive chastisement from the Lord. Chastisement, although not pleasant, shows that God is dealing with us as His sons. If fact, if we receive no chastisement, it shows that we are not sons of God but rather illegitimate children. We should rejoice at chastisement as it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:5-11). Romans 13:11 ¶ And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Free Ebooks That You Can Download. An Expository Study on the Book of Colossians The I AMs of Jesus Your thoughts and Inquiries Contact@About-Him.Com Subscribe to this devotional? Subscribe to About-Him Devotional Keep Looking Up! Don and Marie Spooner About Him! Ministries The purpose of About-Him.Com is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ whom we preach as the Almighty God manifest in the flesh. It is our desire that everything presented on these pages increases your faith in our God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Home About Us About His Word Bible Studies Humor Songs of the Church Thoughts on the Life of Christ Weekly Devotions Audio Devotionals Topical Studies Contact  Contact us About Him! Ministries |