32-38I could go on and
on, but I've run out of time. There are so many more— Gideon, Barak,
Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets....Through acts of faith,
they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for
themselves. They were protected from lions, fires, and sword thrusts,
turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies.
Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those
who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something
better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains
and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two,
murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in
animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn't deserve
them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the
world.
39-40Not
one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary,
got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that
their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed
whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.
Hebrews 12
Discipline in a Long-Distance Race
1-3Do
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. 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 honor, right alongside God. 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!