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by Bible League International,
Narrated by Artificial Intelligence – Andrew,
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Scripture
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… – Hebrews 12:1 NIV
Devotion
What does the author of Hebrews mean by the “great cloud of witnesses?” In the previous chapter of Hebrews, we are told of the great heroes of faith from Old Testament times. These are the ones who in their own unique ways ran the race God set before them and triumphed. Like them, we, who now live in New Testament times, should run the race God sets before us. We are not surrounded by this cloud of witnesses, but we should run the race as if they were looking down on us and cheering us on to the same kind of victory they achieved through faith.
There are three things we should do in order to run our race well:
First, we should throw off “everything that hinders.” These are the things in life that keep us from running a good race. It could be anything. The hobby that we spend too much time on; the unnecessary material things we accumulate and have to take care of; the relationships that add nothing to our lives; and countless other distractions.
Second, we should throw off the “sin that so easily entangles.” Apart from the evil of it all, sin is a major distraction. It takes time to sin and it takes time to deal with the consequences of sin. Sin is like a detour from the race of life. It adds nothing to the achievement of our goal. It trips us up in the race we are running.
Finally, we should “run with perseverance.” The great heroes of faith maintained their faith all the way to victory. So, likewise, we should run in faith all the way to victory. There will be temptations to quit the race, to slow down, to get side-tracked. We should push through these things and run with perseverance on to the goal.
Maybe it would do us some good if every so often we looked up to the clouds to see if there are any heroes of faith up there watching us and cheering us on.
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