It's a Marathon, not a Sprint

Part 2

Last week, we looked at Hebrews 12v1:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

The picture here is of the Christian life being like running a race. Just as a runner wears minimal clothing and carries minimal weight, we too should throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles se that we can run as well as possible. I'm sure every Christian agrees with this in theory, but every Christian struggles to do it in practice. But we should continue to identify anything that holds us back, and pray to be free of it, and repent.

The next verse is:

Hebrews 12v2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

At the end of a racetrack, the runners can see the tape - the finishing line - in front of them. This spurs them on to complete the race, and often they find the inspiration to increase their speed. In the same way, if we will fix our eyes on Jesus, then we will run better than if we fix our eyes on our problems. Remember when Jesus commanded Peter to walk on the water:

Matthew 14v28-31
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
"Come," he [Jesus] said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus.
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

When Peter looked at Jesus, he could do the impossible. But when he looked at the waves, he sank. It's the same with us.

Jesus is both the author and the perfecter of our faith. The Greek word for "author" is archegos. It means originator, but it also means guardian and hero. Jesus is all of these; He originates our faith, he guards our faith, and he is surely our hero. So we look to him who originated out faith, trusting him to guard us, and seeing in him the perfect human - our hero. And this inspires us to run faster, to emulate our Lord.

And Jesus is the finisher or perfecter of our faith. He is its end, its purpose, and one day we will see him face to face. And it is Him who is gradually making us perfect, through His Holy Spirit.

So we look to Him. Not to our own resources. Not to our own strength of character. Not at the problems that surround us, but to Jesus.

We'll look at the rest of this verse next time.