for the Joy

Hebrews 12:1-3 … These verses have been some of my favorites for quite some time. I remember talking about them to my friend, Tim, who was a mentor at the time… but eventually I got to call him ‘brother,’ and as he still makes fun of me to this day over the ridiculous decisions I made as a 14 year old, like the crazy hairdos or the double-dog-dares that I never turned down, one thing I remember the most…

are the times we talked about these verses:

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 honor beside God’s throne. ³ Think of all the hostility He endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

HEBREWS 12:1-3 (NLT)

This morning as I was meeting with the Lord, these verses came back in my heart (yet another way I’m reminded about the vitality that lies in  memorizing the Word – but that’s another blog for another day). As I recited these words in my head, I stopped at ‘because of the joy awaiting Him’… If you are a follower of Christ, Easter was just observed. It’s the time where we pause and look the cross square in the splinters and reflect on the amazing act of mercy and grace in it’s purest testimony. With this thought in mind, precede it with ‘because of the joy awaiting Him…’

I wanna submit to you today that Jesus (God with skin on) knew what was coming and He went anyways… because of the joy awaiting Him. He is the ultimate example of endurance because He also knew what was coming beyond the cross. Beyond man’s comprehension.

Now think of it this way. He went for you. He went for me. This was the plan all along. Because there was joy to come… A relationship with Him doesn’t mean that we skip out on all the hard stuff, all the negative, the crazy kids, the unstable job, the friends as school who don’t understand that your love for Jesus doesn’t make you weird, it makes you authentic. Verse three gives us the key to what it means: ‘… you won’t become weary and give up.’

Don’t get tired. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. It’s easy to take the world and place it on our own shoulders. I’m the queen of it. But every time I do, I’m reminded in circumstance, through other believers, through the Word – the world isn’t mine to carry; neither is it yours. Don’t get tired.