…continued from last week.
Moses chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. Following the stories of more heroes in Hebrews 11 who are named, are heroes unnamed who were tortured, jeered at, flogged, chained, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two (Think about that one!)— and on and on.
Verse 39: “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” That stuns me. Their perfection awaits ours. Their names are to be linked with yours and mine. Yours, Tom, Dick, and Harry! And yours, Elisabeth.
So what on earth shall we do (if we’re still here on earth) before the Year Two Thousand? The answer is given:
“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. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3).
Are we aware that there is a race marked out for each of us? How determinedly will we run? If you are one of those who has not received what was promised, will you trust God anyway?
Help us, Lord, to get rid of whatever weighs us down, to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross.”
In what form shall we expect our crosses to be presented to us in the year 1999 (or 2024)? Something heroic, perhaps? Dramatic? Spectacular? Very unlikely for most of us, I think. John Henry Newman (1801-1890) wrote, “To take up the cross of Christ is no great action done once for all; it consists in the continual practice of small duties which are distasteful to us.” Perhaps it is simply one of those small duties, gladly tackled, that will point to what to do next. If the assignment is a fearful one, take courage from that valiant and tested old Scot named Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661): “For some it is ‘Down crosses and up umbrellas!’ But I am persuaded that we must take heaven with the wind and the rain in our faces.”
**Excerpt originally published in the Jan/Feb 1999 Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter.