Moving Towards God

Hebrews likens the Christian life to that of a race, where we are the runner. The goal, of our race is to finish in heaven, but thats the finish, not what gets us there.

Its stated like this: "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". There are two different things in this passage that distracts us. The easiest to point out is sin; simply put, dont do it.

The next is a little hazy: anything that hinders us. That doesn't mean sin, buts thats not to say that the things that hinder us could cause sin. Anything that takes your eyes off the goal, is going to hinder you. You can run a race in a suit and tie, or your Easter dress and heels, but its going to impact your performance.

In America, we have many, MANY distractions; we must learn to set them aside, and run our race with focus. Often times we can give in to sin because something has hindered our relationship with Christ. It is when we place our hope and joy in the Lord, that we are truly happy, and can survive our trials.

"A great cloud of witnesses" is speaking about those who have gone before us, those who have already reached their goal, that is, their finish line. We are surrounded by the saints, angels, and all of the heavenly creatures; they are encouraging us to continue to run.

If you have ever ran a race, there are those who start out too strong, and use up their energy too soon. Those who are used to running know to conserve the energy. We must run at a pace where we will not get burned out, but at a pace that isn't too slow either, lest we get distracted.

The crowd is full of our witnesses, motivating us, encouraging us, they want to see us win, but we cannot move towards God through sin. We must repent, that is, change our course to run towards God. When we sin, we are actually running backwards, we are justifying our own goals, our own pleasures. We are seeking what pleases us, not God.

A couple weeks ago, a pastor at my church discussed this same topic. Isaiah 10 says that through growth (with God) our yoke is broken. How does a traditional yoke break? It breaks because the bull or ox has grown too large for the yoke to hold on. The ox is fed, it matures, it builds muscle, and the yoke becomes too small.

That ox will carry onto the burden, until it matures, likewise, we will continue to sin, and be distracted from our race, until we grow, and mature in our faith.

The Bible can also serve as our witness, it can and will encourage us. 2 Corinthians 4:16 encourages us by saying: "do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." We can survive our struggles, no matter how heavy the yoke is, by keeping Christ as our goal. He will renew our strength, daily.

Lastly, the goal. The goal is achieved by committing yourself the the Lord. Psalms 37 tells us that by this commitment, God will give us "the desires of your heart". Understand that what your desires are now, may not be the same as your desires now. When we are running the race, our desire is to finish strong, to assist others in their race, to recruit bystanders to run their own race.

As I am currently training myself to run in a physical race, I am often taunted to stop, or feel a moment of weakness. I know that its a moment however, because I continue to run. In those moments though, I seek for a reason to continue running. Its when I am unable to find one, that God shows me yet another one, but I had to look for it to find it.

Look at the faces of runners, and not just at the finish line, you can see their struggle. Some run as if they are able to see the finish line, some are looking for reasons to continue, and some are looking for reasons to quit.

Whats the expression on your face?