I hate exercising for the sake of exercising. Unfortunately, the majority of my day doesn’t include activities that cause me to use my body in such a way that burns calories effectively, and so I must purposefully add exercise to my schedule. Since “misery loves company,” we started dragging the kids to the gym with us, and they walk the track with me. Even though it’s usually a hassle to get everyone moving in the morning-myself included-it is getting easier every morning simply because we’re doing it together, and we’re starting to see results together.
It’s the same with the church. In Hebrews 11, the writer goes through a list of the people of God throughout history who, despite their sins, lived by faith. The writer’s purpose is to encourage the church to remain faithful despite the troubles of life, their sin, and the persecution they were facing. In Hebrews 12:1 we read: “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.”
Even though each of us must “run the race” as an individual, we are running it together. Even though each of us has our individual sins with which we struggle, the writer of Hebrews wants us to be encouraged by the cloud of witnesses so that we can lose the weight of our sin.
Sometimes it’s discouraging that, while we are forgiven in Christ, we continue to struggle with sin. Just as when we make the conscious decision to eat better and to exercise more, we don’t automatically drop the weight we want to get rid of. It takes time and effort, and with the right encouragement, we continue in our health regimen, practically throwing the weight aside. As we all head toward the goal of life with God forever in heaven, we must encourage each other and find encouragement from the Scriptures as we study together. Then we can help each other to throw off the sin that trips us up, and we will run together toward the prize.