5.30.24
This week the writer of Hebrews (chapter 12) is showing us how to endure the marathon of life, by likening our struggles and hardships in life to running a race. And his point is that it’s grueling and wearisome. But the struggles are actually God’s intentional way of “exercising” and stretching our faith so that it can withstand the challenging things we constantly face.
If we can remember that God is controlling and directing everything that happens in our lives for our good, then we will move from seeing our hard circumstances as enemies to being grace-filled friends. And to the degree we do, there are 3 very practical pictures of how we should be running this race - attitudes to take on as we do.
The first is that we are called to run with humility. He tells us to receive hardship as discipline. As we’ve already noted in previous days, nobody likes to be on the receiving end of discipline. And this is especially true of kids. They never seem to understand the distinction between punishment and discipline. Their attitude is that: if I can’t see any good in this, then there mustn’t be any - it’s not possible! And the writer tells us here that we are kids, learning and growing under the loving care of our Father. To the degree we remember that we are kids and act like kids as we face trials we don’t like or understand, we will begin to run the race with humility.
The second attitude is that we are called to run with obedience. He tells us to “endure” hardship. And the word endure is one that means to stand fast - not budge. When you and I suffer, our most natural reaction is to run and hide. We run from God. We run from the Word and prayer. We run from community. We even run from healthy patterns of eating and sleeping. Which means that suffering can either make you stronger and better or weaker and bitter. And it all depends on whether you’re are holding fast to what is true and right instead of panicking and running away.
A third attitude we are called to take on is one of self-evaluation. He calls us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us. When hard times come, we have the choice of looking at our circumstances and how overwhelming they are. Or we can take a hard look at ourselves. And his call is to be brutally honest with ourselves and to ask, “Ok God, what are you after here today?” As we’ve already said, none of our struggles can be punishment, since Jesus already took that and paid it in full. And so it must mean that our loving Father is using and controlling these challenging times to work deeply upon our hearts. And so stop looking at your circumstances and whining. Rather, ask God what he is calling you to work on.