Welcome to Nancy Guthrie’s guided journal “Hoping for Something Better,” which she based on her book of the same title (Tyndale 2007).
New journal entries will appear in your profile Monday-Saturday for 6 weeks. If you missed any so far, stay subscribed to this feed and you can begin when it starts over. Be sure to start your own journal within your Beliefnet profile or in a notebook to respond to Nancy’s prompts.
Day 22
There is something better than being weighted down by the same old sins. It is running the race of faith free of entanglement and regrets.
Read Hebrews 12:1-3.
Here’s the bottom line of Hebrews 12: We must take stock of our ambitions and allegiances and affections to make sure that Jesus is in the center of our lives, in his rightful place. We want to be obsessed with him, not merely affiliated with him or interested in him or associated with him. We want to be united with him, to give ourselves to him, to be obsessed with him, letting go of whatever keeps us from him so we can run toward him.
We have a singular aim of crossing the finish line in faith. Our ability to run is not dependent on our physical ability but on how much we keep our focus on the greatest racer of all time—Jesus himself—who ran the perfect race of faith and now waits for us, encouraging us, providing us with the energy and example we need to run well. It is our longing for him, our love for him, and our obsession with him that prod us to get moving, to enter the race, and to complete the race of faith.
Who are some people you know or know about whose lives serve as a witness to you about how to run your faith race well and why?
Are there certain sins you find yourself falling into over and over again?
How can considering carefully the description of Jesus in 12:2-3 keep us from giving up when things are hard?
–Nancy Guthrie