run!

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

- Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV)

 

I went through a phase where I liked to run (yeah, me).
I ran several 5k races (I didn’t do real well, but I finished each one), and I even ran a 10k once.
For several races I ran with my friend Toni who inspired me to start running – that girl ran marathons y’all, she is amazing!
She was kind of a mentor and friend for running, and when I would get to the point of wanting to stop, she would encourage me to set my sights on a goal in the distance like a mailbox or a sign and keep running.
Great advice from a very smart woman. 

However, spraining my ankle at the very beginning of the 10k and then a few years later breaking both bones in my lower leg resulting in a plate and eight pins in my leg kind of put a damper on running. 
That’s ok, it really was not that much fun anyway. 

But let’s talk about a different kind of race.
The Message version (MSG) of this verse reads Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how He did it. Because He never lost sight of where He was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—He could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now He’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility He plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Oh wow. 
Jesus never lost sight of where He was headed – that is good advice too. 

We need to remember to run, not walk, to the finish, never give up along the way and never lose sight of our goal.
Jesus ran that “race” to make it easier for us, and in the end, at the finish line of our race, we find ourselves face to face with the King.
He is right there along side of us, cheering us on, falling over and over, 
He is there. 
We can run from sin and endure the race when we’ve got Jesus. 

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible