Running the race
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” – Hebrews 12:1
The Illuminated Path
Have you ever walked down a path that is not well lit? I have and lived to regret it. The Bible says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). In fact, “the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life” (Prov. 6:23). If you are walking in disobedience to God’s commands, the path you take will be darkened and more dangerous to walk down.
The Works Path
Naturally, no one is saved by works (Eph. 2:8-9), but that doesn’t mean works don’t play a role in the believer’s life. God is shaping us, molding us, and forming us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, just as Paul writes, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). God has prepared for us good works so that we should walk in them or do them, not to be saved but because we are saved.
The Endurance Path
Most of the world would think that sufferings are useless, but God uses suffering for specific purposes and not for our harm, as Paul writes that “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Rom. 5:3-4). Like a long-distance runner suffers from pains in training, he is better able to gain victory from these sufferings, “for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” (Heb. 10:36).
The Righteous Path
Do you acknowledge your devotion to the Lord to others? The Proverbs tell us, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Prov. 3:6). This can simply mean that when we are blessed or achieve something, we must acknowledge that it is the Lord’s work and give Him glory.
The Lord’s Path
We might like to think we’ve put ourselves on the right path for the Lord, but in reality it is God who makes “known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). What is the way? “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6). There is no other path to the Father except through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).
Conclusion
Are we not privileged to know Jesus Christ? We should make sure we stay on the path that’s illuminated by the lamp of His Word; we must do the works God has prepared us to do; we must endure in our sufferings, knowing that we are becoming more like Christ; we should stay on the righteous path and acknowledge Him for all good things; and we must stay on the only path that leads to the kingdom–and that path goes through Jesus Christ.
by Jack Wellman
Perhaps the most enigmatic epistle of the New Testament, the book of Hebrews confronts the reader with foundational Christian doctrines framed for an audience steeped in Jewish law and tradition. Perhaps this explains why present-day Christians often find this book confusing or even misleading.
“The whole earth’s a waiting room.
We wait – all day long,
for planes and buses,
for dates and appointments,
for five o’clock and Friday.
Some of us wait for a Second Coming.
For God in a whirlwind.
Paratrooper Christ.
All around us people are waiting:
a child, for attention;
a spouse, for conversation;
a parent, for a letter or call.
The prisoner waits for freedom;
and the exile, to come home.
The hungry, for food;
and the lonely, for a friend.
The whole earth’s a waiting room!
“The Savior will see you now”
is what we expect to hear at the end.
Maybe we should raise our expectations.
The Savior might see us now
if we know how to find him.
could it be that Jesus, too, is waiting
for us to know He is around?”
Joseph T. Nolan
Let the Earth Rejoice!
Scripture, Prayers, and Poems
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