Run On

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

RUN ON

Heb 12:1

12:1 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.

NIV

So here is it, the conclusion of why we looked at all those who were commended for their faith. The therefore is the reason for all of chapter 11. Knowing that all those people are in the presence of God, and that they surround us as a great cloud of witnesses, it must be also true that we are already in the presence of God, even as we still live. Or could it be they all are standing in His presence all around heaven looking down on us? Either case it is apparent we are surrounded by them, and therefore it requires some action on our part. We have to get our throwing arm in shape, for it surely appears we must throw off everything that hinders us, not to mention the sin which so easily entangles us. It certainly would be difficult to run a race burdened down with a heavy load hinders whatever they are. Those things which hinder us could be a whole host of things, each one of us having our own unique set of hindering items. We have to ask ourselves what it is that we are clinging on to, rather than throwing off. Are we clinging on to stuff, money, people or even life itself? Or perhaps we are still clinging on to some trait, some characteristic, some attitude, or some way of thinking that God desires for us to throw off. Have we burdened ourselves to a point that we cannot run the race? We might have left the starting blocks, but we just cannot keep up the pace, because we have either refused to throw something off, or we have taken on additional burdens along the way, should as denominational rules and regulations, doctrines and dogmas that weight us down. Then there is the sin which so easily entangles us. If we refuse to admit it is there, we are already losing the race. Yet we still have to see we have a race to run and the course has been laid in, set out, and marked for us to follow. We cannot simply run our own race along the path we think we should run, we must follow the course that has been set out for us to run and we can never give up. Even when times get tough, when it seems we are weighted down, when things start to become hindering, and sin keeps creeping in, we must continue to throw them off remembering we have a high priest, who has settled it all at Calvary. We must run the race, fight the good fight, and get to the finish line. We must run on.