Pioneer Of Our Faith
"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1b,2 NIV)
My husband and I jog-walk every morning out on the road in front of our house.
Okay, my husband jog-walks: he alternates jogging and walking, with slightly more of the former than the latter. I, on the other hand, mostly walk except for brief intervals of sluggish jogging, which I mostly just want to be OVER.
My husband usually goes out ahead of me, and one day last winter, he came back to report that I shouldn't even attempt to walk on our road, which was a solid, thick sheet of ice. "Just go back and forth on the lane to the barn," he told me. "I broke a path for you."
"Broke" was the right word, too, because the same ice that made our road impassible was also crusting the top of deep snow on the barn lane, so each new step required breaking through that crust. I forged my own way for a little while but quickly adjusted my steps to fall along the path my husband had made. Walking the way he had already broken for me was undeniably better.
In Jesus, we have a Pioneer who has broken the path of faith ahead of us.
This Pioneer left His home.
This Pioneer traveled a great, hard distance.
This Pioneer went where no one had gone before.
This Pioneer was willing to risk His life to gain a prize.
This Pioneer forged a new way for those who came after Him.
When I'm feeling like I'm trudging along in my faith—when the going gets hard—I need to ask myself if I've gotten off the path my Pioneer has already broken for me and am trying to break my own.
I need to walk in His steps. I need to walk the way He walked. I need to do what He did. I need to talk to the Father. Be humble. Serve. Pray for others. Praise.
And I need to take all these steps with my eyes fixed on the Pioneer of my faith and on the joy set before Him...the same joy that is set before me.
When I'm feeling like I'm trudging along in my faith—when the going gets hard—I need to ask myself if I've gotten off the path my Pioneer has already broken for me and am trying to break my own.
I need to walk in His steps. I need to walk the way He walked. I need to do what He did. I need to talk to the Father. Be humble. Serve. Pray for others. Praise.
And I need to take all these steps with my eyes fixed on the Pioneer of my faith and on the joy set before Him...the same joy that is set before me.
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I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to tell me what you really think. Years ago, I explained to my then-two-year-old that my appointment with a counselor was "sort of like going to a doctor who will help me be a better mommy." Without blinking, she replied, "You'd better go every day." All of which is just to say I've spent some time in the school of brutal honesty!