“Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.”
The Refining
This closes out everything the second movement has built. Endurance is not sustained by staring at the difficulty itself, which only exhausts a runner further. It is sustained by where the eyes are fixed, and the writer is specific: looking unto Jesus, not looking at the pain, the pace, or the other runners.
Notice what he calls Jesus here: the author and finisher of your faith. Not merely an example to imitate from a distance, though he is that too, but the one who wrote the story of your faith from the beginning and who will personally finish it. You are not carrying this race alone toward an uncertain ending. He already knows how it ends.
And notice what sustained Jesus through his own furnace, the cross itself: for the joy that was set before him. He endured the worst fire in history not by ignoring the pain but by fixing his eyes on what was on the other side of it. This is the same pattern this whole book has been pointing toward. The fire is real. What lies past it is what makes it bearable.
As this movement closes and you move toward the third, carry this forward: look up, not just at the fire. He has already run this race, endured worse than yours, and he is both the author who began your story and the finisher who will complete it.
In the Fire
- Notice where your eyes have been fixed this season: on the fire, or on Jesus.
- Remember he endured worse, for joy set before him, and finished it.
- Fix your eyes today specifically on him as you keep running.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you endured worse than my fire and did not look away from the joy set before you. Fix my eyes on you today, the author and finisher of my faith. Amen.
Carry this today
I run by looking at him, not by staring at the fire.