Get in the Game
“Therefore, 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, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Have you ever been to a homecoming game where the home team lost? Where they lost bad? Have you ever been to a homecoming game where they had a big ceremony before the game to honor a former team of the school that once won the championship? All the members of that team march out on the field and the crowd goes crazy, remembering what a great season that was.
How terrible for the current players at the game if their current team loses—especially if they just get creamed by a team they should be able to beat. It’s more embarrassing because it’s in front of the guys who won it all back in the day. You just imagine them making jokes about you from their honored spot in the stands. You really wish you would have done them proud.
In today’s passage, the writer of Hebrews urges us readers to have some team pride. Not the ugly pride of living for our own glory, but the good kind of pride of carrying on a great thing that others have started. If you get a chance to read the previous chapter, 11, you’ll see all the names in the so-called Hall of Faith—the champions of trusting God who made a mark for Him in their generation.
Now it’s your turn. You’re surrounded by the glory of all the former champions who believed God in victory and trusted Him in horrible death. Are you ready? Are you in the contest? Do you have your game face on? Are you taking trusting God as seriously as they did?
The point isn’t really to make them proud of you; it’s to live up to their example. Every year, new records are broken in every sport. Why? Because somebody proved it could be done. Someone showed what was possible. The heroes of the faith in the Bible—and the heroes of trusting God in your church and family and community—have proved that it is possible to trust Him through devastating days. They’ve set a high bar for what can be done with just one person’s influence and availability to God.
Are you and I even suited up to play? Or are we still stuck thinking of Abraham and Moses and Joshua as Sunday School characters? Do we come to church to sit in the bleachers and eat Skittles and hang out with our friends—or do we want to be in the game? Do we want the ball?
If you’re ready to play, the writer of this passage gets in our faces about what we’ve got to do before anything else—get rid of everything that will slow you down. Take off your street clothes. Nobody runs the 100-meter in jeans and sandals—not if she’s serious about competing in the race. Nobody shows up to play in a big basketball game wearing a snowsuit and gloves.
Throw those things away and get serious, the writer says.
So what’s slowing you down in your race to trust God and do what’s He’s called you to do? What distractions are eating up so much of your time and attention that you’ll never be able to get serious about living like Jesus? Distractions don’t have to be sinful things; they’re just things that are less important that what really, truly matters.
What sins are you wearing like some kind of long, tight skirt you’ll never be able to run fast in? Jealousy tripping you up? Lust? Lies? Disobeying your parents? You can’t take those things into the game with you—not if you really want to win. The writer says “throw them off,” ditch them, leave them by the bench and get on the field.
You don’t have time for that stuff if you’re going to compete like a champion.
Are you ready to get in the game?
—Hebrews 12:1
Have you ever been to a homecoming game where the home team lost? Where they lost bad? Have you ever been to a homecoming game where they had a big ceremony before the game to honor a former team of the school that once won the championship? All the members of that team march out on the field and the crowd goes crazy, remembering what a great season that was.
How terrible for the current players at the game if their current team loses—especially if they just get creamed by a team they should be able to beat. It’s more embarrassing because it’s in front of the guys who won it all back in the day. You just imagine them making jokes about you from their honored spot in the stands. You really wish you would have done them proud.
In today’s passage, the writer of Hebrews urges us readers to have some team pride. Not the ugly pride of living for our own glory, but the good kind of pride of carrying on a great thing that others have started. If you get a chance to read the previous chapter, 11, you’ll see all the names in the so-called Hall of Faith—the champions of trusting God who made a mark for Him in their generation.
Now it’s your turn. You’re surrounded by the glory of all the former champions who believed God in victory and trusted Him in horrible death. Are you ready? Are you in the contest? Do you have your game face on? Are you taking trusting God as seriously as they did?
The point isn’t really to make them proud of you; it’s to live up to their example. Every year, new records are broken in every sport. Why? Because somebody proved it could be done. Someone showed what was possible. The heroes of the faith in the Bible—and the heroes of trusting God in your church and family and community—have proved that it is possible to trust Him through devastating days. They’ve set a high bar for what can be done with just one person’s influence and availability to God.
Are you and I even suited up to play? Or are we still stuck thinking of Abraham and Moses and Joshua as Sunday School characters? Do we come to church to sit in the bleachers and eat Skittles and hang out with our friends—or do we want to be in the game? Do we want the ball?
If you’re ready to play, the writer of this passage gets in our faces about what we’ve got to do before anything else—get rid of everything that will slow you down. Take off your street clothes. Nobody runs the 100-meter in jeans and sandals—not if she’s serious about competing in the race. Nobody shows up to play in a big basketball game wearing a snowsuit and gloves.
Throw those things away and get serious, the writer says.
So what’s slowing you down in your race to trust God and do what’s He’s called you to do? What distractions are eating up so much of your time and attention that you’ll never be able to get serious about living like Jesus? Distractions don’t have to be sinful things; they’re just things that are less important that what really, truly matters.
What sins are you wearing like some kind of long, tight skirt you’ll never be able to run fast in? Jealousy tripping you up? Lust? Lies? Disobeying your parents? You can’t take those things into the game with you—not if you really want to win. The writer says “throw them off,” ditch them, leave them by the bench and get on the field.
You don’t have time for that stuff if you’re going to compete like a champion.
Are you ready to get in the game?
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