Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Exercising Faith
God wants us to exercise faith, specifically, faith in Him. When we think about that word “exercise,” we often think about a physical workout. If you lift weights, what do you need? You need strength. If you run a race, what do you need? We tend to think that we need speed, yet the Bible says in Hebrews 12:1 that what we need is patience. We need to “run with patience the race that is set before us.” He is talking about faith for the course that God has set for your life.
When Hebrews 12:1 says to “run with patience,” we see that as something of an oxymoron. “Run with patience”? Shouldn’t it be “run with speed”? Yet God is talking here about faith, exercising faith in Him.
What does faith look like? Faith looks like patience not speed. We wait on God to get what we want, and our waiting on God is what God wants. God wants you to be dependent on Him. It is easy to think we are living by faith when, in fact, we are living for the present and we think we know how God is going to provide. The kind of faith God wants to cultivate in us is a patient faith. If I’m not patient, I’m not living in faith.
Faith looks to the Finisher not the finish line. The Bible says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” Sometimes we set goals, and we think we are reaching toward those goals by faith, but ultimately our faith should be in the Finisher and not just about some finish line we have set for ourselves. Faith patiently trusts in the Finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus.
So what is faith? Faith is patiently trusting God even when you can’t quite see what He is doing in your life, knowing that He is a good Father Who loves you and will do what is right. The Lord is worthy of our trust and will cultivate patience in our lives as we put our trust in Him.