Hebrews 12:1-3

To Christ our founder

The Christian life is difficult

It is clear to any who live for Christ in this world that Christian life is difficult.

It may be questions that you cannot find answers to. It may be persecution. It may be the pull of the secular world. Or it may be sin that you wrestle with as life goes on.

We need 4 things to help us live this life.

Encouragement

Hebrews 11 is a great encouragement of those who have come before us. Great men & women who were used by God.

Yet these people were sinners. We can be reassured by the fact that God still works through those who make such big mistakes.

Hebrews 12:1 continues this encouragement. We can also be encouraged by those around us today, who live the same Christian life.

Challenge

The Christian faith is upfront. Jesus tells us that this life will be hard. There is no deceit about what it will be like. The Christian life is a challenge.

Hebrews tells us to throw away everything that might hinder us. What might hold us back? It might be something fundamental that you need to change about yourself. It might be a relationship. It might be a worldview.

There are also things along the way that cause is to delay. That hider and entangle us. We should be wary of those things and prepare to face them with the help of God.

Incentive

The writer of the Hebrews encourages the people to meet together. There they can celebrate what has been promise for the faithful.

If we fix our eyes on heavenly things, on the prize ahead, then earthly things will not trouble us. In hard challenges we can see the joy that will come in the end.

Hope

Hope is what makes the Christian life different from any other way of life.

And what do we have hope in? Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith.

Jesus has gone through the same journey we are going through - yet His was even worse! He had total separation from God the Father. He endured the cross, so we do not have to.

Isaiah 53 is a great passage to focus our hope on Jesus. To look at His humanity and His suffering and His eternal love for us.