Tuesday, January 27, 2009

"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. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1-3, NIV).

IDEA: Life resembles a long-distance foot race.

PURPOSE: To help listeners look at life as a race to be run.

Let me give you some words and then you tell me what different things pop into your mind?

I. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews describes the Christian life as a race (Hebrews 12:1).

What pops into your mind when you consider the Christian life as a long-distance foot race?

There is a definite starting point and ending place.

Do you think that some Christians huddle around the starting line, talk about it and apparently think that the starting point is all there is to the race?

There is a prize of some sort to win.

Many people are in the race and they run to win.

Running a long-distance race is strenuous. It is not a "jog."

Do you find that running a race is a "comfortable" image?

II. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says that we are to run the race with "patience."

The word patience is better translated endurance. Endurance is patience with a pain in its back.

Why does a long-distance runner need endurance? What might cause runners to give up before the finish line?

What causes some professing Christians to quit before the finish line?

Did they "finish well"?

Would you have preferred the translation patience to the translation endurance?