Persevering with Joy

10/27/25 Bible Thought (Hebrews 12)

Photo by david Griffiths on Unsplash

The Christian runs in pursuit of a heavenly finish line.

In Hebrews 12, after outlining numerous examples of faith in the previous chapter, the author moves to an exhortation:

“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, ² 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” (Heb. 12:1-2).

All the saints in the Hall of Fame of Faith are, as it were, a cloud of witnesses, a great number of examples that showcase what patient endurance and obedient faith look like.

They spur us along as we go about our own personal race.

As such, the author calls us to jettison everything that is a hindrance to our Christian faith. Sin, weights, burdens, anything that makes running more difficult needs to be tossed aside. The believer ought to pursue holiness (Heb. 12:14) by overcoming sins with the help of our Lord.

The last thing we need in a lifelong race is extra weight upon our backs. We ought to take this race seriously because it is the most important part of our lives. Our Christian faith should never be secondary to other, earthly pursuits. There is nothing more important than that which has eternal ramifications.

We must cast aside weights and run as we look to Jesus, who is both the founder and perfector of our faith. He is the One who brings us into the Kingdom and He is the One who will carry us through to the end. Not only this, but He is likewise our chief example.

Consider this: our struggle against sin in Christian endurance has never resulted in bloodshed (Heb. 12:4). We will never be so strained between obeying Christ and following the leading of our flesh that we begin to bleed.

Contrast this with Jesus Christ, the One who was so resolute in His commitment to the Father’s will that He shed anxious blood in prayer (Lk. 22:44), who would later be beaten mercilessly by Roman scourging (Jn. 19:1), and who would finally give His life as an atoning sacrifice upon Golgotha’s hill.

Christ obeyed through repeated bloodshed, even though He could have called legions of angels to spare Him (Matt. 26:53).

Christ endured the cross, willingly, because He had His eyes fixed on the joy set before Him. He underwent the darkest of night knowing that an eternal dawn was coming. With this in mind, as believers we must keep the joys of heaven and forever being with Christ before us as we run this race. Any cross is bearable when you know what is on the other side.

A few months ago, I saw a video on social media from an avid ultramarathoner explaining how to run an ultramarathon. He said simply, “You keep putting one foot in front of the other until you reach the finish line.”

Very simple to say. Incredibly hard to do.

I have yet to run an ultramarathon, but I did finish a 25-mile trail race in September and I found this wisdom to be true. No matter how difficult it gets, how dark your thoughts are, or how much you want to quit, if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other eventually you will cross the finish.

I wonder how our lives might look if we applied this truth to our Christian walk.

We oftentimes look at the ephemerality of life as a bad thing. We see time passing more and more each year and it can be depressing. Yet, at the same time, each passing moment, each step, brings us not only nearer to death but nearer to our Savior.

For the believer, death is merely the entrance to glory. Therefore, each step of obedience, each passing moment we are moving closer to that heavenly finish line.

Therefore, let us be diligent to cast aside sins, weights, burdens, any hindrance to our walk with Christ, and fix our eyes on the heavenly and run with endurance. Let us look to Christ as our joy that is set before us and know that when we cross that finish line all the sorrows and hardships of life will have been worth it.