“Inspiration”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, February 3, 2022
Hebrews 11:32-12:2 (Forward, p. 5) CEV p. 1268
It is quite an incredible roll call, quite an amazing and inspiring roster of the heroes of our faith that the author of the Letter to the Hebrews calls forth in today’s passage. All of them endured incredible hardships and difficulties, often being cruelly treated and even killed, all for something that they could not yet see but hoped for, had faith in. Each of them died without seeing the fulfilment, the fruition, of God’s promises, and yet remained steadfastly faithful to God. Our author says that this was because God had reserved the fulfilment of those promises to us as the followers of Christ.
And, so our author is pleading with his readers, cajoling them to have a similar faith, a similar steadfastness. He encourages them to see these folks from the past as their inspiration, indeed, as their cheering squad. He likens our present endeavours as being like a race that needs to be run. These folks from the past, these heroes of faith, are in the stands, shouting and waving and cheering us on. And, who is at the finish line, watching and waiting to clap on the back and congratulate us, but Jesus Himself. He is the ‘finish line’, the goal, the whole object of our race.
And so, we need to run with ‘patience’, with perseverance, with determination, and not give up easily, not give up when the going gets tough. We are to rid ourselves, discard, anything that hinders or holds us back from successfully running this race. This may well be sin, but it could be other things that are seemingly fine and good in themselves, but which are impediments or obstacles to running a good race—habits or pursuits, for instance, that redirect away or distract us from our primary goal, which is Christ. Indeed, our focus is to be entirely on Christ, not only, I must say, because He is the object and ‘end’ of our race, but it also because He is the one who sets us on the race in the first place and enables us to run it and finish well.
And, so our author calls to mind these heroes from the past who did this in their lives. They did all this, not even having the benefits and advantages that we have, and certainly not having Christ, so we should take them as our examples, our encouragements, our inspirations, to do the same with our lives. Amen.
Forward notes: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (chapter 12, verse 1).
“Despite years of attempts at learning to love it, I have never really taken to running. I live in Chicago, on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan, and I sometimes drag myself out to jog a few miles on the lakefront path. I never look forward to it. I never get a ‘runner’s high.’ And I am always relieved when I round the last bend to return home, where my couch awaits.
“All that changes, though, when I go running with a friend. As we trot along, chattering to one another, I find myself forgetting my physical discomfort. And every time, I’m amazed at how much farther and faster I can run with a buddy than I can on my own.
“To tackle any kind of challenge with perseverance, we need our cloud of witnesses around us. God did not intend for us to face adversity alone. It can be hard to ask for help when we need it—but when we do, we may find that God gives us a courage we never knew we had.
Moving Forward: “Make a list of your cloud of witnesses and pray for them by name each day this week.”
