Delight and Be Faithful

faithfulness.

 

therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. hebrews 12.1+2

 

The last time I saw my grandma was on my wedding day. A glorious, joy-filled day in which I and all of my loved ones celebrated the beautiful story God has been writing. I so cherish the time when my brand new husband and I got to hold my grandma’s hand and thank her for all of the investing she had done in me, a huge contribution to making me the woman I am today. She passed away into the loving arms of her Savior not too long after. I miss my grandma terribly so often, but she left me so much. Not solely in material form, but in the example of her character.

 

You see, before my grandma passed, she was not terribly and awfully sick with a deadly cancer. Rather, she grew increasingly weak and on most days just did not feel good. I had the honor for quite some time of making her breakfast every single day. The same thing, every single day. Two scrambled eggs and half a piece of toast.

 

During this time, I saw how she so faithfully plodded at each day. That she “ran with endurance the race that was set before her, looking to Jesus”. She was a woman who oozed Scripture in her prayers and in her talk because of all of the Scripture memorization she had made a practice of in her earlier life. If you asked her how she was doing though, it was always not good. She woke up every day, or in the middle of the night, something hurting and just never feeling great. We would go on walks, but I was doing all of the walking and pushing her on her wheelchair because she felt too weak to walk.

 

One time she had a major surgery, so I stayed the night with her at the hospital. I thought she was going to sleep through the night with all of the meds they were giving her, but rather, we were up all night together as she was feeling quite loopy, asking me all sorts of strange questions and insisting that I should make her some eggs because she thought we were home. That night was a long and funny one, but even then, when the nurse came into check on her at four in the morning, my grandma asked her if she knew Jesus and told her all about how she was so excited to go home to be with her Heavenly Father.

 

Now, you may not be laying on a hospital bed with an oxygen tank or, you might be. But either way, faithfulness is applicable to all of life’s seasons and looks a variety of ways.

 

For some seasons, it involves a lot of productivity and demand on our daily schedules. It may look like faithfully getting up to soak in the Word of God before starting a day of work. Sometimes, it looks like showing up for someone when they need you, even though you may be tired and worn. It may mean starting another laundry load, one more time, though it feels like the endless task of life. And for other seasons, it looks like just waking up that day. It looks like waking up and choosing to set your eyes on Christ, even though you just don’t feel like doing another day. We are given so many different ways in different times to faithfully complete the walk before us, given by God. And my point is, don’t feel any less faithful if your task is less productive. If your task is facing another day and choosing to wake up with a smile, you are just as responsible to to be faithful as the evangelist who stands up to preach the gospel to hundreds of people.

 

While we all are facing different kinds of obstacles in our race, this question applies to us all :: Why be faithful? What is the goal? I mean, what is the point of working hard to stick with something, if you do not have a goal of where you are going or what will be accomplished through your perseverance?

 

In Hebrews 12:1+2, the author tells us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith”. They then go on to give us the greatest example of faithfulness, Jesus before the cross, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”. We often think of Jesus coming towards the cross and the kind of courage it must have taken to face such suffering and pain. Yet, knowing the nature of the relationship between Christ and His Father, it is actually a much bigger testament to His faithfulness that what He feared, what He dreaded, what was painfully before Him is that He was about to have His own loving, perfect Father turn His back on Him. Because that is the punishment that He received for us. The rejection of the Perfect Judge, the One who knows and defines absolute right and wrong, who separates the innocent from the guilty. He would name His Son guilty on the account of all of us. When we read this passage, take note how Christ lays the goal in front of His eyes. Knowing that joy was coming for Him. Not just the joy of being out of pain, not just the joy of finally being seen as the victorious One who rose from the dead, but the joy of being restored to His own Father, after accomplishing the great task He was given.

 

So, in faithfulness, as Christ approached the Cross and knew that He would experience deepest darkness when His Father turned His face away, He remembered the joy, the goal that was in front. That He would again be “seated at the right hand of the throne of God”. There was purpose to His sufferings and purpose to His run of endurance.

 

Aswe are called to be the light of the world, the city on the hill, we, as God’s people, make it our goal to reflect our wonderful Savior and mighty Counselor. So, how can we, you and I, reflect this kind of faithfulness? How can we be faithful not just to prove ourselves and to gain applause, but with great goals in front of us? Keeping the prize set before us, knowing that there is a joy that we are enduring towards. When we keep this in mind, all of the seemingly large sacrifices along the way become increasingly smaller.

 

Thankfully, the difference between Jesus and the inspirational book you just read about a person who changed the world is that Jesus is not just a good example of faithfulness. There is so much hope in His triumph on the Cross because He became our enabler, the One who’s blood covers us on the days we have failed to be faithful enough, and who gives us strength on the days that we victoriously “lay aside every weight and the sin which clings so closely”. Jesus is the “Author and Perfecter”, the One who declared us faithful and gives us all we need to be faithful. As you run this race, look towards Him because that is where you will find all of the strength, purpose, and delight you need to faithfully take that step forward.

Charissa Wong