Have you ever wavered in your faith? Have you ever had a season where from a faith perspective you were in a rut?
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Hebrews 12:1 NLT
Reflection
It is said that the author of Hebrews is unknown. Fair enough. Whoever it was has something interesting to discuss in this verse from the NLT. Us Bible readers, especially with Apps, get to switch between translations and we like to say where it is from. It’s a thing.
Back to the verse. The term endurance is what popped out in this verse for me. Endurance. Something that some of us have from an athletic perspective. Something that some of us have in relationships. But spiritual endurance? Do we have that? Is that a thing?
Several of my friends talk about different churches they have been to, different pastors, or perhaps even seasons when they didn’t go to church much. For my Catholic friends it was like they didn’t connect to God at all during those times. For my other friends, they seemed to need a someone to provide them information on Sundays. Both sets of friends I would wonder what are you doing the rest of the week?
Endurance. The spiritual kind requires regular training. I would suggest daily however, I’d be happy if many of us did it at least 3 times per week, not including Sundays. After all, God is with you all the time, you would think you could stop and notice everyday, however, a deeper conversation at least 3 times per week should do it. But heck, why not daily?
Why is this so important? Well, to me it’s all about what you are feeding yourself in that thought life. If you spend a bit too much time on your favorite “information” feed it is very possible you are getting a daily dose of negativity. All the things that are wrong with no mention of what some that might get right. Is that how you want to spend your time?
Add to that how you might have been raised in your Christian faith. As a Catholic, it was all about guilt for me. The way it seemed, I never measured up. I was never worthy. If I didn’t stop in a booth and share my issues with a priest, I was not allowed to receive Jesus. Heck, I am a human which by definition makes me someone or something that is often needing some redemption. I spent a good deal of time in those booths just so I would be worthy. Not a great way to establish a relationship with truly the model of what love looks like. Sheesh!
On a recent trip and watching some shows that exposed other terrible acts by churches in the past plus the more recent terrible acts by priests and pastors it would be very easy to take a pass on Sunday worship with those organizations. You could focus on what they did wrong. You would be right for sure. However, how much reinforcement of how terrible they are do you need? They are terrible. Terrible things happened. So what now should you do with our relationship with God if indeed you had one at all?
I guess that’s my point. In our earthly life there is a good deal of negativity. We are surrounded by it. We are actually bombarded by it. Not enough of what is going right in the world. Not enough of who is doing right in the world. Heck, not everyone one screws up all the time nor are the good people always good.
So where does that leave us? Well, how about the relationship with the Heavenly Father? If you get centered and connected it is my belief that the earthly stuff starts to get crowded out by Him. By His word and how it impacts you. How verses, examples, and just the manner in which He will get through to you will enable you to get past it all. It won’t stop you from being disgusted at certain things, however, re-centering on God and trusting Him for the outcomes, with a willingness to handle the outcomes, seems like the better place to be.
Getting there through all that is tossed at us is where endurance comes in. We have to endure this world to live towards our eternity. There is so much beyond here that we often lose sight of that. We neglect that eternity is a thing and the body of work we do here sets us up for there.
You cannot call yourself a Christian or even hint that you follow Jesus not believing that there is something more than here. Fundamentally you simply can’t. So since you do believe and you are probably following, isn’t it time to up your endurance? Isn’t it time to make sure your training is in the right direction?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the author of Hebrews and the words we get to read still. Thank you for this idea of endurance and bringing it to our attention. Help each of us as we figure out where we are with our endurance. As we pivot to a better version of ourselves help us endure more leading us to an improved focus on You. A focus that will help us, remind us, and prepare us for the eternity we know is part of all of this. Please keep us, our families, and our friends safe. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
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