"...let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross..." (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Burned into a wooden plaque which hangs above our entryway mirror is one of my son’s personal proverbs, "Look beyond that which you can see."  The eyes of faith are needed to see beyond the world directly in front of us, and to endure.  We are all in the world, in a race of some sort, but the yonder look belongs to those not of the world.  Endurance to run is needed in the world, but we who are not of the world need not muster it, only receive it.  It is given through Jesus who has established our faith and owns it. 

Endurance lags when we confuse the imminent, the urgent, the weights of the race with the race itself.  We loose heart in the race when we look at the burdens and not at Jesus.  Look at Jesus; remember the joy and the cross set before Him, and so receive endurance.  We are the joy for whom He endured the cross; it was for you and me!  And He is the joy for whom we run the race.  “Selah” this for a moment!

The race is set before us, but so is Jesus.  Let’s not run as if He wasn’t.   

Author: Carolyn Roehrig