Tuesday 4th of February
“We should keep running steadily in the race we have started.”
Hebrews 12:1-4
Living out our faith is a marathon, not a sprint. Who is a famous person who we admire? Sports people who succeed are not necessarily the people with the most natural talent. They also have to persevere and put in years of training. Actors and musicians who seem to be overnight successes have usually put in lots of hard work before they finally become stars.
If that is what it takes to achieve earthly fame and wealth, how much more we should be prepared to work for our eternal salvation and for the salvation of others. Instead of having a celebrity as our role model, St Paul calls for us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Whenever we face difficulty on our faith journey, we can look to how Jesus endured His passion and cross to win through to His resurrection. Jesus, please help us to focus on You and on the joy that awaits us if we run the race marked out for us, so that we don’t grow weary and lose heart in hard times.