The Cloud Of Witnesses

From: July 31, - August 6, 2012 TOPIC: “The Cloud Of Witnesses” Hebrews 12:1-3

I want to refresh and improve everything that is necessary in my life to be like Christ. We cannot remain paralyzed or stop to struggle to improve our life in this path. It motivates me to acknowledge those who were in the same or worse circumstances who conquered through faith. It speaks to us here of believers who conquered because of their faith. They were people who lived before us and suffered just like us or even more. Their struggle was possibly more difficult because they lived in more difficult times than we have. They succeeded in those circumstances so difficult, so I should also succeed. We should know that the book of Hebrews was written while going through great persecution. For such reason, the Christians in those times went through great sufferings unknown to you and me. Let this encourage us. In chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews the author wrote about the suffering of those who came before us. Now we are surrounded by such cloud of witnesses. We must know that in order for them to succeed they had to discard every burden of sin. We need to renounce to the sin that harasses constantly to be able to fulfill the race that has been assigned to us. Let us keep our eyes set on Jesus in whom our faith and goal is based on. (Hebrews 12:2). That Jesus, to be able to enjoy the pleasures that were to come, suffered the cross with integrity, without allowing himself to be impressed by that terrible shame that implicated a death such as that one. Now Jesus, in virtue of His sacrifice, has occupied His position exalted at the right hand of the throne of God. Through Him and in His name we strain ourselves in the struggle and the perseverance to gain the crown that the Lord will give to us on that great day. This is the Christian life! How much there is to fight and resist! Although it may seem impossible to continue because of the narrowness of the road, at the end it will be known how much we have resisted. We are not those who go through life unconcerned. Each one of us should know what we do and where we are headed. We are not tourists but rather pilgrims on our way seeking a better land, the celestial. We should have a clear goal in our life. That goal is to reach a resemblance with Christ. Your life has a destiny and it would be right to ask yourself at the end of the day: "What am I lacking? How much have I advanced towards my goal? " When one turns back, it is difficult to start again. One has to go back again to walk in pursuit of the holiness and the perfection which is the path where we should walk. Did you stay behind, what has happened? Even if it is difficult, stand up and fight, because what is ahead of us is unique, God planned it for us. Let us struggle, we have great inspirations. There are those who inspire us, who move us and motivate us. We are immersed in an invisible cloud of witnesses in a double sense. First, they were believers who testified of their faith in Jesus Christ with their lives, and secondly, because they are now spectators of our performance. We are like racers who compete at the view of the audience. You believe that your life and your acts can be in secrecy. But that is impossible; everything we do is at the view of God and of that audience! When we are racing with what we have left of our strength, how we would say, "Giving all you got", then the spectators yell at us, they encourage us and cheer so that we may continue the effort. In the same way we, after giving everything we have in the race, we WIN! That is why it is said that they, the spectators, were the ones who were running. That helps us a lot! When you make the effort and struggle for your goals, then you can ask yourself: How would they have done it, Noah, Peter, Paul, Samuel, David, Jacob, Abraham, etc..? Submit your goal to Abraham’s criteria. What does he say when he sees the effort you are making in your race? It is something essential in Christian life the fact that one lives before the glance of the heroes that in their generation lived, suffered and died for the faith. It is true that we are immersed in the greatness of the past like the example of these witnesses of the faith is. But we are also struggling in these days with the obstacles of our own sin, and if we want to get far we have to run fast depriving ourselves of all sin that seizes us. In this life we have to constantly renounce, to get rid of evil things that are harmful to us and cause harm to others. It could be habits or pleasures, excesses or contacts that condition us to live contrary to what has been established by God. We should renounce to all that as the athlete does in order to achieve his goal with success. Like the athlete, when aiming towards the start line and until the end of the race, let us not hesitate in running light and seek the help of Christ in order to arrive with victory. We need fortitude, balance. It is not wings to overfly the difficulties and obstacles; that would be to escape. But what we need is to hurry, but without indolence. May the determination that you used in your effort be strong. Fight with courage to break off with what can keep you from running quickly. Reject the discouragement. We will maintain a balance until we reach the goal that is expected of us.

In our life we have the highest example to struggle and that is Jesus. To reach the goal proposed for him He tolerated everything; to obtain the victory He had to go through the cross. The cross was something humiliating, reserved for the worst criminals, to the dregs, but Jesus accepted it and marched ahead in order to die for us and later RESUCITATE! In this way He conquered death and gave us eternal life. Let us fight with that same balance and fortitude our Master and Savior Jesus Christ fought. Let us be like Him and we will be able to obtain the crown in our race. Amen.