The Right Thing

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.  Hebrews 12:1


Have you ever heard a great poem and found it was so inspiring and profound that you end up dwelling on it? That kind of thinking came natural to me. After all, my middle name was from a famous philosopher/poet (Emerson). I used to write poems when I was younger, but needless to say none of them were on the level of my namesake. However every once in a while, I could hit the right tone with the right words, and blend it into poem that resembled what many of the modern poets would publish. To explain what a modern poet does is to see the world through their eyes. Most modern poets view the world as very fractured and out of control, and thus they must bring the world together through each line of their poetry.

In reading the beginning verses of Hebrews 12, I found a poetic beauty in it much like I would reading a modern poem. In it, you can visually imagine and picture a time when all is not right in the world since Jesus’ death and resurrection, and Paul, in this case ‘the modern poet,’ has been given the responsibility to bring the world back together through the Gospel. He is speaking where clearly there must have been some doubt among the people. It is a time where you can sense great fear and apprehension over the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will go over the first three verses of this chapter together over the next few weeks starting with the first verse here.

To address the fears of both the Hebrews then and us today, Paul in this very first verse speaks to both our natural reasoning and our hearts. He first moves to reinforce our beliefs by speaking of those (the cloud) who had seen the many miracles of Jesus for themselves. He next appeals to the commonality in the feelings that create hesitation in us all. It could be fear, pride, doubt, or apathy, but all of these among other feelings ‘hinder’ us from following through on that which we know to be true. Further he touches on the nature of our sins to inhibit us from doing what is right. While Paul says, “the sin that so easily entangles us,” sin by itself does not entangle us. We entangle ourselves through the shame that it carries (I’ll talk about shame next week). Thus our problem in many cases is an inability to truly confess and repent for if we truly embrace the Gospel, we know we are truly saved from our sins through the light of Jesus. Finally, Paul encourages us to get fully involved in the battle to transform lives. We are not merely to walk through the motions but rather ‘run with perseverance’ the path God has laid out for us. In other words, we are to exhibit a sense of urgency in whatever God has called us to do.

Paul understood that for us to grow in our journey of faith, we must overcome some obstacles, and thus his teaching here is to build us up to overcome them. There are many reasons for us at times to feel weary from our travels. Growth after all is never easy, and in most cases will be difficult. However, the rewards of not only eternal life but also a spirit filled with love, joy, and fulfillment is worth the painful sacrifice to achieve it. Additionally, a growing Christian’s potential to spark others to accept the Gospel is the true will of God. My prayer is that we all learn to accept that in spite of all that might hinder it, seeking our spiritual growth is indeed the right thing to do. Amen.