The Walk of Wisdom Part 4
The Walk becomes a Run Heb 12:1-2
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and 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, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We have focused on the recognition that living on God’s wisdom is following the way of the Lord, illuminated by the light of His Word. Wisdom provides a way – and daily we abide in Christ by walking with Him. Wisdom, the Way of the Lord, and our Daily Walk.
As we grow in Christ our walk requires endurance. Jesus spoke of the need to abide (remain) in Him as its the branch must remain on the vine to produce fruit (John 15). Sustained abiding brings endurance.
Paul’s perspective of his walk was to serve others as a slave to “win” them to embrace the Gospel and believe in Jesus the Savior (See I Corinthians 9:19-23). He then used the metaphor of the enduring walk as a run – as if running in a race. He asked the believers at Corinth:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
The walk of wisdom became a run for Paul – the race of his life because he was competing for a prize that endures forever. Also using the athletic metaphor of a boxer, he further emphasized the need for self-discipline to be genuine in his life.
Paul was worried about the new believers in Galatia; he wondered how they had returned to a form of false legalism that diminished the grace of God. He again used the running metaphor to ask:
You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? (Galatians 5:7)
Endurance and perseverance in the Christian life is indeed an attribute of the walk of wisdom. An old man (Paul) speaking to a young man (Timothy) expressed it this way as he looked toward the completion of his race: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). This is where the walk and race in this life ends, an enduring faith when we are received by our Savior.
The writer to the Hebrews dedicates the 11th chapter to the life of faithful believers in the Old Testament, reviewing the ancient believers including Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abram, Isaac and Jacob, and more. The writer acknowledged their endurance: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth (Heb. 11:13). But not all of the ancient believers shared the same experience. Some “conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies” (11:33-34) while others were destitute, persecuted, tortured, imprisoned, killed by stoning, the saw or the sword (11:35-37) . Yet all of these endured. Hebrews chapter 12 reminds us that we, too, are believers in this great family of God – witnesses to the great drama of God’s redemption – and we must also walk and run the assignment the Lord has set for each of us:
Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, Hebrews 12:1
Our encouragement in wisdom this week is to grow and turn our walk into a run – even a run of endurance, letting no one cut in on us so we can persevere in the race the Lord has set before us.