Hebrews 12:1-3 (3)

And as we’ve already touched on, the author’s desire is that his readers do not waste their lives. So he picks up his pen writes verse three, look at that with me: ‘for consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.’ This verse is almost a summary of what we’ve already seen.

I love the word ‘consider’ at the start of it. Think often about Jesus, think about what He’s done. Draw it to mind in a quiet moment, always have Him near so that when trouble attacks or temptation comes, you know He’s there. The word used for consider here has the meaning of comparison in the original as well. Jesus suffered the pure evil of his opponents schemes, without complaint. He endured to the point of shedding blood for you and me. Nowhere does He ask us to endure the same.

The author doesn’t write these things to make us feel bad for suffering. He writes them to inspire us in our suffering. His heart for the Hebrews is that they do not become ‘wearied and faint in your minds’. He writes so that they would not give up the race, He writes to give them reason and means to persevere. The words used here, weary and faint can be used to describe an athlete who collapses to the floor exhausted having completed the race, having crossed the line, and that’s the author’s final appeal to us here. He wants us to hear the voices in the crowd going ‘keep running, don’t give up too soon, stay focussed, and don’t give up before the tape.’ No one can do this without divine help. No one can run through the pitfalls and temptations of life without great assistance. And that is the point of this book, and of the whole New Testament. That help is only available in Jesus and we must always away look to Him.