Let Us Run With Patience

On Thursday night we had our Wonderfully Made Mothers meeting. For our Bible Study time, we focused on Hebrews 12: 1 and 2. What God showed me in these two verses has been very meaningful to me, so I decided to share some of those thoughts with the ladies present and also to those of you who follow my blog.
Hebrews 12: 1-2
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Look at the first word in verse one. Whenever we see the word wherefore, we should look to see what it is there for. That means we need to look in the verses just prior to this one to get our answer.
Hebrews 11, just prior to these two verses in Chapter 12, is a very familiar and popular chapter. It is called the "faith" chapter. I urge you to read this chapter. In fact, read it several times and let it sink in. It is an amazing example of people who walked by faith and how they overcame by faith. So as we look at the first part of verse one in chapter 12, it is referring back to just that. We have an example to follow.
The next part of verse one says, "...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us..."
Now we are going to be told how we are to run this race (or the Christian walk) that is set before us.
What does a good athlete need so that he can do his best and run his race? He needs to eat healthy food, he needs to workout on a regular basis practice and he needs to get a proper amount of sleep. What would happen to an athlete who didn't get his rest, ate junk food, and didn't workout. He gets up on the morning of the race. As he begins that race, he has to pick up two large weights--one on each side. How far do you think he would get? Would he win? We can all easily answer "no." He probably wouldn't make it very far at all.
So let's compare that to a Christian running "the race that is set before us."
First of all, a Christian who is running that race needs certain things. What are they? Proper nutrition! From where does that nutrition come? It comes from the reading of God's Word. That is our spiritual nutrition. We also need physical nutrition, that comes from eating good, nutritious food and we need a proper amount of rest.
In verse one it also says that we are to lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us. Just as we said that an athlete who carries weights isn't going to get very far, neither are we if we carry heavy weights with us.
The sins that we carry and have not confessed can be different and they can be few or many. Sometimes we carry the weight of certain sins for years. What kind of weight are you carrying? I was saved when I was seven years old, and one thing I have noticed, even in my own life, that one sin that so many of us carry and have trouble laying aside is the sin of unforgiveness. Sometimes we are unable to forgive someone who has hurt us so deeply. But more often than not, there are two other things that come to mind. One of those is that sometimes we do not truly believe that God has forgiven us, or, we cannot forgive ourselves for something that we have done.
Okay...here we go. Let me ask you, does God forgive and forget? Now most of you would quickly answer yes. But let me tell you something that was recently explained to me.
I was raised in a Christian home and I also was taught that when we confess our sins, God forgives and forgets. But even as a child I would think to myself. "But sometimes the sin I committed comes back into my mind and God knows what I am thinking, so how can He possibly forget?" For years, I pondered that with no real answer. Recently I read a devotional that explained it well. It went like this.
"The idea that God forgets my sins isn't very reassuring to me. After all, what if He suddenly remembered? In any case, only imperfection can forget, and God is perfect. Then I read Hebrews 8:12 which says, 'For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.'" The author continues, "God doesn't say He'll forget our sins--He says He'll remember them no more! His promise not to remember them ever again is stronger than saying He'll forget them. Now that reassures me!" And this reassures me and should reassure everyone that we can lay aside every sin and weight which besets us and run the race that is set before us.
But there is still one more very important word in that first verse. Can you see it? It is something about which we have said nothing so far, and yet it is a very important word. It is the word patience. And we all know how we get patience. "...tribulation worketh patience..." Romans 5:3. None of us want the tribulation part, do we?
The word patience means to be patient. But what does the word patient mean? In the dictionary, I found the following:
Patient--Possessing or demonstrating quiet, uncomplaining endurance under distress or annoyance; tolerant, tender or forgiving, persevering, diligent
How are we to run the race that is set before us?
We are to run that race without complaining--even when we are under distress or annoyance; we are to run that race with tolerance; we are to run that race being tender and forgiving, we are to run that race with perseverance, and with being diligent! Wow! I don't know about you, but I surely have not been running my race with PATIENCE!
In verse two, I am sweetly reminded of our precious Lord Jesus.
How do we run that race? By looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The next part of that verse brings tears to my eyes. It says, "...who for the JOY that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Jesus died on the cross for you and for me. There was no complaining. He did it with JOY because He loves us so much. When we are running our race, the Bible tells us that we are to be looking at Jesus. Remembering that He went to the cross for you and for me with JOY will help us to run our race with patience.
What is the end result of running with patience the race that is set before us? It will result in others seeing Jesus in us and winning them to Him. How wonderful it would be to receive many rewards when we get to heaven because we ran with patience--rewards that we can lay at Jesus' feet.
I pray that these verses have touched someones heart. May we all RUN WITH PATIENCE THE RACE THAT IS SET BEFORE US!!!

Lean Not Unto Thine Own Understanding

For some time now I have been tired--bone tired--the kind of tired that zaps every bit of energy, leaving one exhausted. I had not been sleeping well. I slurred my words. At times my mind would seem completely blank.

I was terrified! My husband quietly worried about me. The unspoken fear lingered deep inside both of us. Could I possibly be in the early stage of Alzheimers?

I well remember that my own mother began to show early symptoms of Alzheimers when she was only about six years older than I am now.

But last week I found out what the problem was when my doctor's office called me with the results of my yearly lab tests. Hypothyroid! What a relief!

I googled the word hypothyroid and guess what I found out? Most of the symptoms were ones that I have had. What a relief!

I now take a little white pill and hopefully, soon I will be feeling better.

Well, after all, how was I to know?

Proverbs 3:5 comes to mind here:"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Amen!