November 3, 2023

The Ultimate Example of Faith

By Skip Heitzig

There's an old saying that goes "If we would travel far, we must travel light." Nobody understands this better than an athlete. Athletes train to lose weight, to get their body fat as low as possible, and to become lean, mean running machines. They have to be very careful about what they eat and how they exercise, because they want to stay in shape.

It's the same for believers as we run the race of the Christian life. The author of Hebrews wrote, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (12:1-2).

The thought is to get rid of what slows you down in your pursuit of this Christian life, this race toward Christlikeness. Whether it's a habit, a bad association, or something else, just get rid of it. And as you're running, you've got to look at something. You've got to have your eyes fixed somewhere, and the writer of Hebrews tells us where: "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."

The Greek word for author could mean originator, leader, or founder. I think we could take this to mean Jesus is the chief or ultimate example of faith. Hebrews 11 lists many examples of faith. But Jesus is the ultimate. So as you run, don't get distracted by life or entangled by sin; instead, fix your eyes on Jesus and run to Him.

In the Old Testament, after the children of Israel spoke against God, a bunch of snakes came to the camp and killed many people. God told Moses to make a snake out of brass and to put it on a pole. If the people looked at it after they had been bitten, they would be cured (see Numbers 21:5-9).

Much later in John 3, Jesus said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (vv. 14-15). That's how we're saved: we look to Jesus and He saves us. We don't look to ourselves.

This is also how we run. We run by looking in the right direction: toward Jesus. If you want to lose a race (not that you ever would), look down at your feet while you run. You'll stumble pretty quickly. Or look at other runners on the track or at the spectators in the stands. If you're looking at any of those things, you'll probably get hurt.

I learned this in my early days of mountain biking. I always had to look just ahead of the front tire and where that trail was going. If I tried to look at the scenery, I would end up in the scenery.

Some Christians are preoccupied with themselves or with what others think about them. Or they compare their running to other people. But the best way to run the race of the Christian life is to end every day with a simple question: "Did I please God today?" Not "What do others think?" or "How are my feet when I run?" Ask instead, "Did I please God today?" That keeps it simple.

So Jesus is the best example of faith. We look to Him to know how we ought to live. We can do that when we read about His life in the four Gospels. We see His choices, how He suffered, and how He faced temptation. We learn what He thought about death and how He faced His own death. If you want to know about those areas of life and how you can respond to them, study Jesus' life. He is our ultimate example, the author and finisher of our faith.

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