12:1 Do you see what this means - all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running - and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.
12:2 Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed - that exhilarating finish in and with God - he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of onor, right alongside God.
12:3 When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls. (The Message)
Life is like a race and it takes endurance to keeping running to the finish line - heaven. That takes faith. That takes focus. That takes discipline.
As we struggle in our lives, faith, focus and discipline doesn't come easy.
God knows and understands that. He knows it's a hard road and knows when we can't run anymore and knows when we want to quit - we are so tired.
How can we, as Christians, cheer someone on who doesn't see a finish line?
It takes more than a lot to love someone who constantly struggles with life.
Sometimes life comes at them faster than they can handle and they don't have the endurance to keep running. We must continue to encourage them and never stop until they see there is a finish line. Jesus began and finished his race with his eyes always on God. We have to remember that, even if we need help from our brothers and sisters.
