S05E088, Keep your eye on the prize, Andy B 2 Minute Video

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David, of the David's Daily Dose blog, and I were chatting around two pieces of scripture we had commented on.

One was Romans 5 and the other Hebrews 12 and how they link together and he challenged me to write something on these two, so here it is

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honour beside God’s throne. Hebrews 12:1-2 (New Living Translation)

and

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, an character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Romans 5:3-5 (New Living Translation)

So run the race, and keep your eye on the prize!

Just a thought...

Andy B

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[00:00:00] So another Andy B Two Minute Video. And this one comes courtesy of a very good friend and brother of mine named David. I quite often would share blog posts from him, David, David Daily Dose. So he is a good friend and he's challenged me, I suppose, to a little bit of a duel, off the back of one of his posts.

[00:00:27] Let me read these two bits of scripture. The first one is from the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. It is Chapter 12, and it's the first verse or so. 

[00:00:35] Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great a crowd of witnesses, to the light of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

[00:00:52] And I'm gonna flick to the book of Romans. Matthew Luke, mark. Luke. John Acts, Romans sta the New Testament, [00:01:00] and in chapter five, verse three, it says this.

[00:01:02] We can rejoice too when we run into problems and trials. For we know that they help us develop endurance, and endurance develops strength of character, character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us because he's given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. 

[00:01:26] So my, my thought really is around this idea of keeping your eye on the prize, that Hebrews 12, that's about running, think about the Olympics. How do people do that? Well, they need to keep going and going and going. Keeping their eye on the finished line. That is the goal. That is the motivation. That's what gets 'em up early in the morning when they're tired, when they're can't eat the foods they want to, is getting past that finish line first.

[00:01:48] For most of us, it's just reaching that finish line, would be an accomplishment. 

[00:01:52] And then Romans five. It's all the things that lead from that. Well, we need to make sure that we are running the race mark [00:02:00] before us, that each one of us has a race to run. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. But in Romans five, how do we develop endurance? Well, endures actually leads on to character. Character leads on to hope of salvation. 

[00:02:12] What does all that mean? 

[00:02:13] It means as Christians, that life can be really, really hard. There are gonna be things that will come and seat trip us up, distract us, get us down, depress us, squish us and squash us. But if we are running the race marked out before us, that means that God is with us, running literally next to us.

[00:02:31] Think about the blind runners. How on earth do they do that? They have someone running alongside to guide them along. God is like that! We are blind in this world in so many ways, things that we don't know can't see. God can keep your eye on the prize. 

[00:02:46] Just a thought.