Slices
Prepare
Talk to any competitive athlete, and they’ll say that encouragement of the crowd is a major part of keeping going – and winning. The 2012 Olympics in London were a terrific example of that. Who encourages you in faith?
Bible passage
12 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, 2 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. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
God disciplines his children
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.’
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined – and everyone undergoes discipline – then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 ‘Make level paths for your feet,’ so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Explore
This passage begins and ends with athletic imagery. Like those we’ve been reading about in the last chapter, who finished their races and are now cheering us on, we too need to run and finish our own race (vs 1,2). Everything that impedes our feet should be discarded, and we need to be strong to keep going.
How? By training. The discipline we read of in verses 7 to 11 is to help us be fit for the race. Training for anything requires dedication and time, and, very often, pain and effort. We might not like it, but it’ll get us where God calls us to be. It’ll also help us develop into being those whose lives are right with God and at peace with him (v 11) – and that benefits both us and others.
Why? Because of Jesus. He’s there at the centre of everything. He’s our example of how to run the race to the end, and how to endure so that God’s purposes are accomplished. And not only is he with us by his Spirit as we run – encouraging and helping us when our spiritual feet are weary. He is there waiting to greet us when our race is done.
Respond
How’s your godly training going? How’s your race progressing? Pray about wherever you’re up to, for perseverance and encouragement.
Deeper Bible study
Lord, as much as it is in our power, help us to make the way level and smooth for others in our communities.
Verses 1–3 complete the list of faithful examples by referring to Jesus, ‘the pioneer and perfecter of faith’ (v 2). Our life is pictured as a race, probably a marathon rather than a sprint, and while some suggest that this cloud of witnesses is watching from the grandstand, I don’t think this is the whole picture. In the Bible, a witness is someone with a story to tell. The witnesses are the people of chapter 11 who have testified with their faithful living. While we consider their faith, we are to fix our eyes on Jesus, who endured the shameful death of crucifixion and is now enthroned at God’s right hand. When we consider the opposition he endured, it will strengthen us so that we neither grow weary nor lose heart.
Our struggle against sin includes the sin in the lives of the opponents we face, including ‘all that motivates and empowers them to persecute believers in the hope of eliciting compromise’.2 The antidote to growing weary and losing heart is to see it as God’s discipline, even though it comes to us from sinners like those Jesus faced.
The idea that these struggles are God’s discipline comes from Proverbs 3:11 and 12, words that the Father gives to his children to encourage them. Discipline like this is unlikely to be pleasant, but will have a good outcome, ‘a harvest of righteousness and peace’ (v 11). Therefore, we are to strengthen our arms and knees and, as we have noticed elsewhere in Hebrews, we are to care for others, ensuring that the paths of any lame members of the community are level and smooth, so that they are not disabled, but healed (v 13).
Do you know of any troubled people whom you can encourage and whose paths you can smooth today? Lift them in prayer and then find a way to help them.
1 Mark 9:24 2 Gareth Lee Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Eerdmans, 2012, p619
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Proverbs 27,28; 1 Thessalonians 5
Pray for Scripture Union
Thank God, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:12), for all he has given to us out of his abundant supply. Pray that we will see an increase in income so that more children and young people can come to faith.
