Enduring with Joy




I'm slam in the middle of the busiest period at school at the moment. This means I'm barely putting my laundry away let alone managing to blog. 

I'm running a half-marathon next weekend and preparing for lots of long-distance pool swimming and two triathlons. I love running. I'm not very good at it. I'm pretty slow and I'm sure there's lots wrong with my technique. But I love it because once you start the race you have to keep going, even when each half kilometre seems unreasonably long - impossibly long. You just keep going. And somehow all of those half kilometres add up and you end up going further than you would ever have thought you could. 

I'm glad that the Christian life isn't a race that's only for those intimidating pro runner types. The kind that casually sign up for ultra marathons at the weekend. The kind that know the difference between lap times and split times. The kind that carb-load and have trainers with fancy properties that I don't even understand - let alone think I need. 

I have friends who are seriously good at running. They are inspirational and I love them. But I find it really encouraging that the writer to the Hebrews is calling us to a very different kind of race. The race in Hebrews 12 is a glorious one, but I don't think it looks (or feels) much like Usain Bolt or the Olympic Games.

"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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

The Christians Hebrews is addressing are struggling. They're smarting under God's discipline. Their knees are 'weak' and their arms are 'feeble'. They're weary and faint. In fact, they have no chance of reaching the finish line at all without a drastic shift in perspective.

They need to look to Jesus - the one who has already endured to the end for them and who turns around to hand them his prize. They need to call to mind everything he went through for them - specifically and deliberately to guarantee their salvation. That's the only way they'll make it. 

They're not being called to win the race, but to complete the race. Not to perform, not to smash records, not even to triumph - but to endure. To finish the race (2 Timothy 4:7) that has been marked out for them (Hebrews 12:1)

I don't know about you but that's the kind of running I want to go in for. With Jesus as my victory, my reward, and my hope I can manage to keep taking on the next half kilometre. It will hurt and I'll get red in the face and look a bit silly, probably....

But I can endure because I know that Jesus finished a much harder race for me. He endured with joy - and that means I can too.






Wounded 
The Cornerstone rejected
The Son of God sin turns to death
He suffered at the hands of sinners
Laid down on the altar until his work was done

But he endured the cross for the joy set before him
This I will remember when I grow faint

Victory is mine, is mine in Jesus
One day I will rise, I'll rise with him
My reward is found, is found in Jesus
In this I find the strength to carry on
My hope is found, it's found in Jesus
One day I will, I will see his face
My reward is found, it's found in Jesus
So I can endure - with joy - with joy - 

Exalted
From the grave lifted
The Son of God now clothed with power
My sorrows - they cannot follow
I'm headed to a place where they will be no more

And this present suffering cannot compare to future glory
This I will remember when I grow faint

That Victory is mine, is mine in Jesus ...

I will run my race
With my eyes set on what lies ahead
Looking to my prize Jesus Christ

I will run my race
With my eyes set on what lies ahead
Looking to my prize, Jesus Christ

('With Joy' by Jonathan and Emily Martin) 



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