Long-Race Runners |
"let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus..."(Hebrews 12:1)
A living faith embraces a journey that absorbs our entire being. There is no aspect of a living faith that is not engaged in the sustained pursuit of the eternal glory promised to those who travel this path. This race of faith is a most consuming journey; it fully taxes our natural life as it draws its strength and energy from the divine life that is given to those who look upon Jesus. This journey of faith requires more than a one-time decision and more than a few occasional uplifting experiences. It demands our complete involvement, an intense and sustained effort of the will and of the heart. When we remain patient and hopeful under the burden of trial, trusting God that He is the one accomplishing His good work in us, we are refined by the fire of suffering, molded by the pressure of afflictions and formed by the strain of adversity into a closer likeness to our Lord, Jesus Christ. For it is He, the Captain of our faith, we are looking to, the one who "for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." He opened the way for us and now is journeying alongside us, giving us daily new mercies, comforting us in our sorrows and strengthening us in our weaknesses. When we carry the cross and persevere with unwavering faith and undiminished joy through all life's adversities, we are imprinted with the mark of God's valiant people, the ones whose faith has been tried by fire and found to be genuine gold. We then become carriers of hope in a world of despondency, guiding lights in the night of unbelief and ambassadors of God's all sufficient grace to save and uphold those who put their trust in Him. "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us," and "never cast away our confidence, which hath great recompence of reward." (Hebrews 10:35) |