Living in the Spirit
August 12, 2016

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. –Hebrews 12:1-2

Our scripture today makes my top ten list of favorites. I appreciate the ancestors in faith who have prepared the ground for our sowing and reaping. The advice to lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely reminds me of my daily need to let go of the baggage that I so readily pick up in my daily walk with God. Such baggage holds us all back from being fully the person we are created to be. The tough part is discerning the difference between learning from our mistakes and letting them cripple us. We must figure out a better response for the future whether we messed up ourselves or got caught up in someone else’s bad day and were not able to salvage the experience for either of us. Rudyard Kipling may have said it best, in his poem If*

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

God enables such maturity. Strengthening our relationship with God prepares us for the work we have before us giving us not only the courage to face difficulties but the very purpose for our being who we are.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the gift of discernment in all our relationships as we struggle toward oneness in our quest for being the Body of Christ. Amen.

*First verse, If, by Rudyard Kipling see at http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/if/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.