SCRIPTURE PROMPT
What Does Looking Toward Jesus Look Like?
Finishing well
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1–2, ESV)
Hebrews has been one of my favorite books of the Bible from the first time I read through it. Chapter 12, in particular, seems to hold a lot of things I rest upon, and I think it’s because the chapter just starts with a bang.
‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses’
The first time I really read that line, it struck me that this is a huge encouragement to us as believers. We’re not running this race alone. Not only have there been people who have gone before us, but they continue to encourage us because of the way they lived their own lives. It’s kind of like running a marathon, where the first finishers cheer at the finish line for those who come after. It’s often what encourages stragglers to finish well.
