Often in life we can have great intentions to be positive,
productive and achieve great things, but so often life throws challenges at us
which slow us down and make it difficult to achieve all the things we want
to. It can be easy to get discouraged
and think there is no point. At the end
of my last post I talked about how we can keep our motivation, how we can
persist despite the challenges. In this
post I want to expand on that a bit.
Going back to the passage I have been working through, Hebrews 12:1-3
says:
1
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, 2 fixing our
eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him
he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from
sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
So how do we keep going?
We look to Jesus and the example he set us. Jesus faced opposition from day 1. Even as a baby he was targeted (see Matthew
2:13-18). Throughout his ministry he was
challenged and attacked, it seemed like the more good work he did the more
people came after him, and often it can feel the same for us. It can feel like the harder we work the more
we get challenged. The more determined
we get to do the right things, like eat healthy and exercise, the more life
seems to try and stop us with sickness, busyness or other difficulties. But this is when it’s most important to push
through. Have a look again at the
passage from the second part of verse 2 onwards:
For the joy set before
him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from
sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Jesus’s primary focus was not on the challenges he faced,
but on the final outcome. He knew that
no matter how hard things got, the outcome would be worth it. He knew that by tackling the difficulties he
faced each day, he would achieve victory.
There must have been times in his life when it all seemed too much, but
he kept going, he refused to be stopped.
And we need to do the same thing.
It is important not to give up when life gets tough, strength can only
be built through challenge. One of my
favourite quotes is “a challenge only becomes an obstacle when you bow to
it”. So we need to keep our heads up,
our focus on the goal and keep moving.
From our biggest challenges come our biggest victories and our biggest
growth, what an awesome motivation to keep going! When we do this, when we focus on the goal,
the challenge suddenly becomes less of an issue because we can see through it;
we know that it is only a temporary step on the path to victory.
So where does that leave us?
The encouragement to "run the race" is something we can all
apply to our lives. It is a calling to
try and be the best we can be. It's a
calling to try each day to do better than the day before. It means that we stay focussed on our goals,
not allowing ourselves to get caught in unhealthy things which can slow us
down. It means that when we get
discouraged or times get tough we persist in the knowledge that we will
overcome the obstacles and enjoy the successes.
It gives us a purpose, a drive to motivate us to continually improve and
not give up, to get up each day and live with determination and
positivity. And when we when we do this,
when we run the race, we are able to push through challenges and enjoy the
victories that follow!
