As for us, we have all of these great witnesses a who encircle us like clouds, each affirming faith’s reality. So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into… Hebrews 12:1 (TPT)
Their Lives – Pilgrimage Series – Part 4
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6
I used to think that the great cloud of witnesses depicted in this verse were spectator saints: people who watch on as I “run my race.” Do they cheer? Do they cringe at my mistakes? Do they talk amongst themselves about areas I could/should improve? Are they like the crowd at a sporting game, loud and unruly, outrageous in their support or disdain? And do they disappear into the night after their fever has died and the game is over?
The word witness here does not mean spectator or onlooker: someone who watches on while you act. It's not talking about people who witness (watch) your life as if it was played in an arena and they were in the stands. It’s got more do with testimony, with bearing witness to faith, and with their lives and stories, showing us evidence of their faithfulness, and of God's. This great cloud of witnesses are not passive watchers over our lives; they are active participants in how their lives testify and bear witness to faith in the face of struggle, journey, and promise. They are those who have gone before us, pilgrims past, who have trodden out the great pilgrimage that we find ourselves smack bang in the middle of right now. Their lives and stories, triumphs and struggles, tragedies and graces surround us and bear witness to the journey.
Hebrews 11 listed some of those past pilgrims:
Abel
Enoch
Noah
Abraham
Sarah
Isaac
Jacob
Joseph
Moses
Rahab
Gideon
Barak
Samson
Jephthah
David
Samuel
And many more. They are called “Faith champions… of whom the world was not worthy” (Hebrews 11:38).
This list comforts and empowers me.
Sarah doubted God and sent Abraham into the arms of her servant; Moses got angry and disappointed and died before reaching the promised land; Rahab sold her body for money, David was a murderer and an adulterer and a king who abused his power…
Yet, these are our champions of the faith. They bear witness and testify to the grace of God on the journey.
They are not perfect people, not in the slightest. But they are individuals who had the courage and faith to press on through perils and trials, struggles and sufferings, sins and mistakes, and continued their pilgrimage. I can’t think of a better group of stories to surround me in my journey.
Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”
Our great cloud of witnesses are not spectators in the stands of heaven watching on as we try (and sometimes fail) to live our lives and endure to the end. They are those who have lived and fought and journeyed. They know what it's like to face struggle and endure, propelled by the hope that there is more going on than what we can know and see. They are those “who at their best knew the triumph of high achievement, and who at their worst, if [they] failed, at least failed while daring greatly.”
Their lives and stories affirm faith’s reality.
(You should absolutely go and buy Brené Browns book, “Daring Greatly” It changed our lives!)
Over to you! How does it feel to be in such great company? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Go to Part 5 – The Way »
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