Running the Race: How to Persevere in Your Faith Journey

The Christian life isn't a leisurely stroll or a cruise on autopilot. It's a marathon that demands perseverance, focus, and endurance. The book of Hebrews, chapter 12, paints a vivid picture of what it means to run the race of faith with intention and purpose.

Understanding the Race

Before we learn how to run, we need to understand what kind of race we're in. This isn't about speed or elegance. You don't need to be the fastest or most graceful runner. What matters is perseverance. The original Greek word for "race" in this passage actually shares roots with our word "agony." That tells us something significant—this journey won't always be comfortable.

The race is challenging by design. It's been marked out by God, not by us. Our culture constantly tells us to be the authors of our own destiny, the captains of our own course. But when we follow Jesus, that narrative shifts. We run the race He has mapped out for us, trusting that His path is better than any we could chart ourselves.

Here's the encouraging part: this race has been run before. Hebrews 11 reminds us of a "great cloud of witnesses"—heroes of faith who have gone before us. Abraham, Moses, Rahab, and countless others have already demonstrated that finishing this race is possible. They lived with their eyes fixed on the future, trusting in promises they couldn't yet see fulfilled.

Throwing Off What Hinders

Hebrews 12:1 instructs us to "lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely." This involves two distinct actions: eliminating unnecessary burdens and weeding out sin.

Marathon runners don't wear heavy backpacks or snowsuits. They minimize weight, wearing the lightest gear possible. Similarly, we need to examine our lives and ask: What am I carrying that I don't need to carry?

The passage intentionally doesn't specify what these hindrances are because they differ for each person. What distracts you from God's agenda might not be the same thing that distracts someone else. It might be your phone, constantly pulling your attention away from prayer or Scripture. It might be relationships that drain you spiritually. It might be commitments that seem good but keep you from what's best.

These hindrances aren't necessarily sinful in themselves. They're just unnecessary weight that slows us down.

Then there's sin—the things that don't just weigh us down but actively entangle us. If hindrances are like running with a heavy pack, sin is like running with your shoelaces tied together. It trips us up, causes us to fall, and prevents forward progress altogether.

We often minimize sin, ignore it, or rationalize it away. We tell ourselves it's not that bad, or that we have good reasons for our behavior. But sin rearranges our priorities and undermines who we are in Christ. It wraps around our legs like weeds, stopping us in our tracks.

The question isn't whether we have sin to deal with—we all do. The question is: What sin are you killing off today? What are you actively working to release and overcome?

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

Hebrews 12:2 gives us the secret to running well: "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith."

In the original language, this phrase literally means "look away to Jesus." To look at Him inevitably means looking away from something or someone else. We all have a tendency to place our identity in things other than Christ—our work, our relationships, our achievements. Fixing our eyes on Jesus means turning away from those false sources of identity and security.

This isn't a one-time action. We need to continually re-look to Jesus. We're all easily distracted, constantly tempted to chase the next shiny thing. Like a teacher trying to get the attention of distracted children, God is saying, "Eyes on me."

Why does this matter so much? Because wherever we look, we inevitably run toward. If you've ever driven a car, you know that you drift toward whatever you're looking at. Take your eyes off the road for just a moment, and you start to veer. The same is true in our spiritual lives.

What should we focus on when we look at Jesus?

He is the pioneer—the trailblazer who went ahead of us, making salvation possible through His death on the cross.

He is the perfecter—not only the source of salvation but also its completion. God's promises find their fulfillment in Jesus.

He endured the cross for joy—laying down His life to fulfill God's saving purposes.

He now sits at the right hand of God—in the place of supreme authority, always available to us.

Looking at Jesus doesn't help us escape the world's difficulties. Instead, it gives us the encouragement and strength to continue through them.

Enduring Hardship as Discipline

The final instruction in this passage might be the hardest to accept: endure hardship as discipline.

Hebrews 12:5-11 reminds us that God disciplines those He loves. When we face challenges and difficulties, it's easy to think God is angry with us or has neglected us. But the opposite is true—discipline is actually a sign of God's love.

Good parents discipline their children because they love them and want them to grow into mature, healthy adults. God disciplines us for the same reason. He wants to train us to become more like Christ.

Think of a silversmith purifying silver. The metal is heated in fire until impurities rise to the surface, where they're scraped away. This process repeats until the silversmith can look into the silver and see his own reflection. Similarly, God puts us through refining fire to remove our impurities until He can see His own image reflected in us.

Discipline isn't enjoyable. It's painful in the moment. But it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace in those who are trained by it. It's how we share in God's holiness.

Running Together

The beautiful truth is that you're not running alone. The one who started your faith runs beside you. The Holy Spirit empowers and guides you. And at the finish line, Jesus waits.

You don't have to rely on your own strength. You don't have to figure it all out by yourself. The same God who began the work in you will be faithful to complete it.

So throw off what hinders you. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Embrace the discipline that trains you. And run with perseverance the race marked out for you.

When you cross the finish line and see Jesus face to face, you'll be able to say: it was worth every step.