It’s true. I didn’t know where the Pro Football Hall of Fame is. But I do now! Did I say Akron? I meant Canton! At least I was in the right state, right? The good news is you are reading. Even better, there is a higher Hall of Fame. Now imagine that while you are living here and now, running the race of the Christian life, you are surrounded by the Hall of Fame of Faith in the stands. As Steve Green sang, they are “cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary, their lives a stirring testament to God’s unfailing love.”
The writer of Hebrews envisions us running the race by throwing off our sin. When one of our sons went out for Cross-Country, I went to his meet. He had never run before, at least as far as I could remember. When I arrived, they were about to start the race. He was wearing full sweats on an 85 degree afternoon. I ran. I ran to the starting line and said, “Lose the sweats. You can’t win with all that weight.” He took off the sweats, went down to his running shorts and shirt and ran a lot faster than I thought he could. But he could not have done so well with those sweats. So we cannot run the Christian race carrying the baggage of our sin. Drop it.
How did the women and men of God through the ages succeed? They fixed their eyes on Jesus. The Old Testament heroes looked forward to the coming the Messiah. The New Testament heroes looked back at what he had done. Now their lives encourage us as we focus completely on Christ, the Author and Perfector of our faith. Jesus not only started well, but he endured the cross and rose again and sat down at God’s right hand. Didn’t he win the race? What is the race God has set before you? God started something really good in us the moment we committed to follow Christ. And he will bring us home. “May all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footsteps that we leave, lead them to believe and the lives we live inspire them to obey."
