Ok, so here is a devotional that I am sharing with a cross country team on Friday-Word Up!
Recently I have been thinking about how as a Christian I can live a parallel life. By that I mean I can see my life on a track that looks like this ========== The top line is my spiritual reality and the bottom line my physical reality. I live a normal suburban life. There is nothing that would require my spiritual and physical realities to intersect. But Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) If I am to obey Christ and live the life that God has called me to in the place I am called to be in then my life track will look more like this +. The horizontal line being my physical reality and the vertical being my spiritual reality. And the place where they intersect is where I should always be living. Funny that is looks like a cross?
If this is true and I am living the crucified life, following Jesus then the whole council of God’s word can be applied to every part of my life. My parenting, my working, my volunteering and serving-those are the easy things to incorporate the scripture in, but what if I started to applying the word to the everyday things like cleaning, cooking, carpooling, and even running. You see if we are living lives in the place where our spiritual and physical realities intersect, every task, every minute; every thought can and should be yielded to Christ. That is what I believe is what Jesus is talking about when he calls us to “take up our cross daily.” I believe that God wants to use everything in our lives to bring him glory and accomplish His purposes. We might not see the results in our present time, but in the future we can look back and see how He used every experience and every moment (as meaningless as they may appear) to lead us on the path He has for us. That being said I want to move on to the word that I believe God has for me to share. But I want you to keep the perspective of the crucified life as we move on.
Hebrews 12:1-3 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” I know what y’all are thinking. How many times can someone use that verse when speaking to a group of runners. Listen, I tried to get away from it, but God kept pulling me back and then it hit me. One word, “therefore.” Y’all seem like smart people, what kind of word is therefore? Don’t yell it out at once, that’s right it’s a conjunction. It’s a word used to connect one thought to another. I like how Strong’s defines the Greek word here, toigaroun (toygaroon), as “consequently.” I realized that this verse was really the result of something that the writer was previously saying. So I looked back at chapter eleven.
If you are familiar with the book of Hebrews than you might recall that chapter eleven is the “Hall of Faith.” As I read through the list of great and faithful people in the Old Testament I found my self feeling encouraged and discovered why the therefore was so important. Humor me as I read through some of it now…… “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God…..By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain……By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death….. By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not seen in reverence prepared an ark…..By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance…..By faith even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive….All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on earth….By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau….By faith Joseph…..By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter…..By faith they passed through the Red Sea…..By faith the walls of Jericho fell…..By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish….And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy) wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.” Here it is y’all-pay attention “ And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. Therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us….let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Did y’all catch that? All the great heroes of the faith are waiting and surrounding us because their inheritance depends on us. Their inheritance depends on each of us taking up our cross daily and enduring until the end. Moses’ inheritance depends on you following Christ and obeying your parents, even if it is hard. Joseph’s inheritance depends on you studying and applying your entire mind to school so that you can be all that God has called you to be. Abraham’s inheritance depends on you even running to the best of your ability because God has a plan and purpose even in sports and recreation. The greatest men and women of all time those “whom the world was not worthy” are surrounding you and me cheering us on because their inheritance, their promises, their future glory depends on us.
Now before we get too pumped up about this lets remember that life is hard and running is hard and requires endurance. But if we “fix our eyes on Jesus” and remember His sacrifice we “will not grow weary and lose heart.”
I love what one commentary had to say, “We are being watched by these great heroes of faith. They are crowding round the track to see us run. Let us strip off everything that hinders, and run the Christian race with all we have. Christ did not give up when the going got hard; neither must we.” (Eerdmans) Another commentary said, “Surrounded by a vast crowd of those who, in former ages, had run their race for God victoriously, and who were now gazing with breathless interest at the initial struggle of the New-born church, the runners are urged to keep their eyes on the goal, and strain every nerve and muscle to win.” (Halley)
When we are living our lives at the intersection of our physical and spiritual realities, fixing our eyes on Jesus surrounded by a cheering section that none can imagine, and running with endurance, straining every muscle and nerve to win, then we are bringing God glory.
My children have been involved with Upward Sports here for many years. I have seen this ministry grow so much over the years. This fall my two girls have been playing soccer and they have added a new thing. At the end of the game all the parents form and arch and cheer for the kids as they run through. Personally I found it a little cheesy, but the girls love it.
God brought that image to my mind as I was meditating on this passage. I began to imagine Abel, Enoch, Noah and his family, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Israelites, Rahab, Ruth, Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel, the prophets, the disciples, Paul, the many missionaries and martyrs, John Wesley, St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Theresa. These are the ones who are making an arch for us and cheering for us with breathless interest. And you know what, they are not expecting a perfect race, they know we are human just like they were. But we can endure and get up when we fall and persevere under hardship and the stress of this life. Because we are not running for ourselves but for them and all the saints and for God’s glory. At the end of our race we will reach the One whom our eyes have been fixed upon and victory will be ours and an inheritance will be won. “Therefore… let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Sanctified and Southern Fried 