The Word To Live By: 8-30-25
Phil Waggoner
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1,2
The Word To Live By: The “therefore” is Chapter 11, what some call the “Faith hall of fame”. The cloud of witnesses surrounding us could be the people mentioned in Chapter 11, but I think it is the people in our own personal world - moms and dads, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, children, the people we encounter every day. What is the race set before us? Life and living it in such a way that people see our good works and glorify God. I’m not talking about just the things we do that are good, but also our attitude when we encounter the tests, trials, and tribulations of life. What did Paul say in 1 Corinthians 13:1? “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” We lay aside the encumbrances and the sin which so easily entangles us by consistently “Keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith,” (Hebrews 12:2 New Living Testament). Believing that Jesus died on the cross for our sins (He took the punishment for our sins) and that God raised Him from the dead, it initiates faith in us to be born again, then He perfects it as we continue to grow and mature in His Word. By keeping our eyes fixed on Him and not on the sin and encumbrances that are all around us in the world, we learn to live a life of faith.
Read through the Bible in a year: John 8:21-47; 2 Chronicles 2:17-5:1; Malachi 1:1-2:9;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 30, Mark 3:1-18, 2 Corinthians 1
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160