Run With Endurance

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 12:1 (King James Version)

We've been studying in Hebrews 12:1 for a few days now. So far, we have discovered that we must lay aside things that weigh us down, and we must also lay aside the sin that tangles us up. If we are going to run the race of life at our best, we must not be hindered in any way.

The end of Hebrews 12:1 says, "and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Only after we lay aside the things which weight us down, only after we lay aside the sin that tangles us up, are we going to be able to run the race that is before us. We are not going to run at our best if the cares of this life are weighing us down, or if we are still all tangled up in sin. In order to run at our best, we must be freed up from sin and from the things that weigh us down. But, there is a specific way we must run this race: with patience. Looking at the way other translations of the Bible write this verse, we must run the race with determination, with endurance.  The writer of Hebrews 12:1 is using a marathon runner illustration here. Someone who runs a marathon trains for months, or even years, to compete. They will not get half way through the race and then give up. We, as Christians, must not give up in the race we are in. We must run with patience, with determination, with endurance to the finish line.

Are you running with endurance? Or, have you already given up? Think About It.