Entering my third year of Bible college, I thought I had it all figured out. I was confident, overconfident, really. I remember telling a mentor that I could never imagine falling into serious sin like some of the leaders we had heard about. His response was simple, but it has stayed with me ever since:
“Then I am concerned about you.”
That moment was a gift from God. It exposed the pride in my heart and began a lifelong awareness of how fragile we really are apart from His grace.
Over more than thirty years of ministry, I’ve seen too many who did not endure, men and women who started well but did not finish well. And if we are honest, that should cause all of us to ask in humility: How do we endure?
Not just pastors. Not just leaders.
Every follower of Jesus is called to a life of enduring faith, for our own spiritual health and for the good of those God has placed around us.
Because the reality is this:
Life is distracting.
Life is disorienting.
And life is spiritually dangerous.
Our flesh pulls us toward comfort. Our culture pulls us toward compromise. And the enemy would love nothing more than to see us drift off course, confused, cluttered and eventually crushed.
That’s why Hebrews 12:1–3 is so important.
This passage was written to believers who were struggling to endure. They were tempted to give up, to drift, to shrink back. And into that moment, God speaks a word that still applies to us today (perhaps the chapter break here is a little early).
The Christian life is not passive.
It is not easy.
It is not a sprint.
It is a race.
So how do we run in a way that endures?
1. Enduring Faith Considers Past Runners
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” (Heb. 12:1)
Hebrews 11 has just given us a sweeping picture of men and women who lived by faith, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, and many others.
This “cloud of witnesses” is not primarily about them watching us.
It’s about us looking at them.
Their lives bear witness to God’s faithfulness; they show us the value of a life of faith.
They show us:
- It is possible
- It is costly
- It is worth it
They walked a path of obedience in real circumstances, through suffering, uncertainty, and hardship, and God proved Himself faithful.
We need that perspective, their examples.
We need to look at those who have gone before us, both in Scripture and in church history, and remember: We are not the first to run this race.
I think of people still running, like Joni Eareckson Tada, whose enduring faith through immense suffering reminds us that God’s grace is sufficient. I think of missionaries who gave their lives without ever seeing the fruit of their labour. Their lives declared: No reserves, no retreat, no regrets.
Enduring faith looks back at God’s faithfulness in others to strengthen present endurance.
You are not alone.
So keep running. You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses!
2. Enduring Faith Puts Off Every Weight and Sin
“…let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely…” (Heb. 12:1)
If we are going to run well, we must remove what hinders us.
The text gives us two categories: weights and sins.
Weights
Weights are not necessarily sinful, but they are not helpful to our endurance.
They distract us from what matters most. They drain our focus and weaken our passion.
In our culture, these are everywhere:
- Endless scrolling
- Entertainment overload
- Busyness without purpose
- Obsession with politics or cultural issues
- Even good things that crowd out God
Not everything that is allowed is helpful.
And Hebrews calls us to take these seriously.
We are to lay them aside.
Sin
Sin is more obvious and more dangerous as it not only distracts, but also entangles.
Sin is not merely breaking rules; it is rejecting God’s rule. It is choosing our way over His, living for ourselves instead of His glory. It is ultimately betraying our relationship. It misses the mark and mars the image of God we are seeking to imitate.
It shows up in familiar ways:
- Pride
- Lust
- Anger
- Dishonesty
But at its core, sin is deeper. It is a heart that prefers lesser loves over God, the flesh over the Spirit, the temporary over the eternal.
And sin doesn’t just slow us down.
It entangles us.
It wraps around our feet, trips us, and ultimately takes us out of the race.
We cannot run well while holding onto what is killing us.
We must deal with sin decisively.
We must kill it before it kills us.
A Greater Love
But the Christian life is not just about removing things.
It is about replacing them.
Thomas Chalmers spoke of “the expulsive power of a new affection.” The only way to displace lesser loves is with a greater one.
You will not endure unless your love for Jesus is growing and increasingly eclipsing your love for everything else.
Enduring faith puts off weights and sin, and it does so because it is gripped by something better, someone better. This is where Hebrews 12 takes us; it moves us from removing hindrances to a relational fixation on Jesus.
3. Enduring Faith Looks to Jesus Constantly
“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…” (Heb. 12:2)
This is the heart of the passage.
The Christian life is not ultimately about trying harder.
It is about looking more fully and constantly.
Jesus is:
- The founder of our faith – He began it
- The perfecter of our faith – He sustains it
He is not only our example; He is our source.
And when we look to Him, we see the cross and rejoice in what He has accomplished and how He accomplished it:
“…who for the joy set before him endured the cross…”
Jesus endured suffering, shame, and death for us.
He did not quit.
He did not turn back.
He endured.
And that changes everything.
We do not run to earn God’s love.
We run because we already have it, and the cross encourages us to keep running, to endure with joy.
The Danger of Looking Away
There was a famous race in Vancouver in 1954 between Roger Bannister and John Landy. Landy was leading when he made a critical mistake. He looked back over his shoulder to see where Bannister was. At that moment, Bannister passed him and won.
Landy didn’t lose because he wasn’t fast enough.
He lost because he took his eyes off the finish. He was distracted from what was of most value to him at that moment.
The same is true spiritually. When we lose our fixation with Jesus, we are in danger of stumbling and falling in our race of faith. It is a relational pursuit!
Hebrews calls us to fix our eyes on Jesus.
Running by Truth, Not Feelings
Pilots are trained to fly by instruments, not by feelings, especially in storms. Sometimes their vision is forcibly restricted in training, so they learn to trust what is objectively true rather than what they feel.
Because feelings can mislead.
The same is true in the Christian life.
We are often tempted to follow what feels right, but feelings can be disorienting.
God has given us something better: His Word, The Gospel, an All-Defining Relationship.
Enduring faith says: “Even when it doesn’t feel right in my flesh, I will trust what God has said and keep my eyes on Jesus.” I will run the way He has called me to run, and I will endure.
Run to Endure
Hebrews 11 shows us that others have run faithfully (not perfectly).
Hebrews 12:1-3 shows us how we can finish this race well, how we can persevere.
So what does that look like?
- Consider the witnesses
- Lay aside weights and sin
- Fix your eyes on Jesus
With God’s help, we will finish strong.
Jesus is not only the One we look to, He is the One who will bring us home.
“He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…” (Phil. 1:6)
My mentor was right to be concerned about my confidence in myself and my great Bible College claims of my ability to run better than others.
And now I find myself concerned for this generation of runners, called to endure in their race, to continue forward in a world that seems to have gone mad with so many distractions and temptations threatening to trip them up.
I long for all of us to finish well. We need His grace! We long for the Spirit’s filling. We must take the steps necessary in God’s strength for God’s glory to carry on in faith.
Keep running, endure, and take the necessary steps: Consider the witnesses, lay aside weights and sins, and fixate on Jesus, and in His strength we will be able to say with Paul
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
