Encouragement to Persevere
The theme for this year at Cross Creek Church has been “GO”. As the year starts to wind down, the writers at More Than Sundays would like to give you some encouragement and wisdom so that you can finish the year strong and keep GOing in your walk with Christ for many years to come. Please enjoy!
Running a marathon takes great preparation. Some runners train hours at a time to prepare for an upcoming marathon, or they set a strict diet to follow. They may even start by losing some weight to ensure their goal to finish is met while some may even throw away old running shoes and acquire new running shoes to ensure stability. The goal for some runners is to finish in an appropriate time, and some aim to simply finish. Whatever their goal, they definitely build a solid foundation of health to finish the race. Patience is required to finish the race, and we must remember that a race of endurance is different than a sprint. To finish the race, runners must GO. There is no standing still.
Just like prepping for a marathon, followers of Christ must aim to do the same thing. In order to continue following Christ, to ensure we stay on course despite difficulty, we must remember His truth about not standing still when overcoming struggle. To overcome struggle, we must GO and continue racing with Jesus by our side.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV).
As believers, we must take off the weight that hinders our race to GO in Christ. Just like running a marathon, you don’t want to get rid of your running shoes, but you do want to get rid of the backpack full of rocks you might be carrying. We must leave sin behind, and allow God to take our burden so that we might be free in His name.
Jesus is our eternal hope to get through trials. With Him we have joy–and joy comes from the Greek word chara, “which is closely related with the Greek charis for ‘grace.’” (Precept Austin). Joy is a gift from God. We obtain joy by accepting His grace and relishing in His truth. In this way we are more able to endure trials and continue racing.
We must build a solid foundation of faith to keep going, keep running the race that’s in front of us, and keep fixing our eyes on Jesus. Jesus is the author and the finisher in our race.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8, NIV).
Without Him, we are unable to finish the race forward into eternal hope. And Jesus is the source of that eternal hope because He too endured suffering so we may be saved. We are called to endure sufferings as we follow Christ in obedience. Jesus didn’t promise us an easy life, but He promises we will overcome them when we pursue Him.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NIV).
Think about the persecution of Christ, how He was made to walk carrying a heavy cross while people looked on, mocking him, spitting at him, and shouting hateful remarks at him. Despite the difficulty and the struggle, Christ continued on to lay down his life so that we may be free. Part of our pursuit of Christ is sharing with Him in suffering.
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17, NIV).
We must remember that this race cannot be run by our own strength. It is only through God that we can run this race. If we want to lay aside the burden that weighs us down and the sin that is chained to us, we need to remember that it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to lay them aside. It is only possible by the grace of God and His Holy Spirit. So keep Christ in your sight, and keep GOing!
Resources:
Grace/Precept Austin (Greek word study).