Contemplative Bible Reading

Hebrews 12:1-2a (New Living Translation)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, …

Let us run the race God set before us…God has given us all a task. The writer of Hebrews, among countless others, is one of us running this race. We are not alone like in track and field races. We have a group with us. We will not be embarrassed all alone in the open with our gangly running style.

And let’s look to the grandstand. This isn’t PE class where no one is there. Jesus is sitting in the front row cheering us. (Try to imagine that picture for a moment or two.) And Jesus isn’t alone. With Jesus is a huge crowd of witnesses to the faith in God. A bunch of the more famous witnesses were mentioned in the previous section of text (we know it as Hebrews 11 or “The Faith Hall of Fame.”).

And on top of all this support from friends, neighbors, saints, and Jesus Christ Himself, we don’t have to carry any burdens. We don’t have to think about monthly bills, or what we might have to eat, or what the boss thinks of us, or our grade point average, or my sore back, or my bad eyesight, or my extra pounds I carry, or anything. We are allowed to discard every weight—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual—that might slow us.

Wow! Stand back and watch me run! Or maybe I, well, uh, you know. There is so much going on in my life and…

Please God, help my in my unbelief.