Jason (the un-nicknamed or the lion-hearted school teacher, whichever you prefer) has handed the reins back to me (Jason, the supposedly-but-not-always wiser and wittier) for a few weeks. His thought-provoking and thorough devotions, as you would rightly imagine, take time to ripen and like a prime cut of steak, must marinate and settle to seal in all of their juicy goodness. Bad analogy? I digress.
Hebrews 12:1 (NLT)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin the so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. I remember when I first stumbled upon it; tears came to my eyes as the intensity of this scripture sank in. The weight of God’s call on my life found me in that moment and absolutely overwhelmed me.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses…
Two different crowds came to mind when I first read this.
The first was simply the crowd of people that surround me in my every-day life.
At first, I thought about my family, friends, and co-workers. I thought about the people that I know well. People that know me well. Then I had to take it to the next level. Waiters and waitresses. Wal-Mart cashiers. People I hunt and fish with. People I shop for clothes with. Strangers I stand next to in church. That I sit next to in the movie theater.
It blew my mind to realize that every single person that I find myself in contact with is a witness to my “life of faith.”
Everything I do is a reflection of my faith, whether it is in myself or in Jesus Christ. We don’t have to open our mouths to let the people around us know where our faith lies. The magnitude of this never sank in until I read this verse.
To look at the people around me as a “huge crowd of witnesses” to my “life of faith” changed everything... The things I do. The things I say. The things I look at. The things I avoid. The music I listen to. The movies I watch. Literally everything had to change!
I pray that God awakens you to this “huge crowd of witnesses” to your “life of faith.”
When you realize that the life you live can be the difference in someone choosing Jesus and spending eternity in Heaven or rejecting Jesus and spending eternity in Hell, it changes absolutely everything.
Everything.
