Ellie shares her thought for the week; running after Jesus.

Yesterday was the Reading Half Marathon and thousands of people came together to run 13 miles through Reading. I, however, decided to cheer on the side with a bacon bap but nonetheless I was still there!

I was reminded of this verse in Hebrews 12, verses 1-2 which says,

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter of faith.

Hebrews 12:1-2

And so our life can feel a little bit like a marathon. We need to be running towards Jesus with our eyes fixed on Him. And similarly to the Reading Half Marathon, when running after Jesus there’s a destination that we’re running to; we’re running to a finish line. Our race is not just an aimless wonder instead it has a purpose. A purpose to be more like Christ or to grow in our faith and to have a deeper relationship with Him.

Now I’m sure lots of the runners at the Reading Half Marathon have been training for this race for ages. And just like training for a race we must also be intentional with our spiritual lives. We need to train ourselves through things like prayer, reading the Bible and being in a community with others who believe. It can be so easy to become distracted and I’m sure the athletes may have become distracted along the way of the race. Maybe things like the crowd or maybe us eating our bacon baps distracted them. But Hebrews 12 reminds us that we need to fix our eyes on Jesus.

I’m sure along the marathon there were times when these runners found it hard. There would have been times when they wanted to stop or maybe times of tiredness, times of doubt, times when the race just wasn’t easy. But we don’t run alone because Jesus has already gone before us. He’s right next to us throughout the race and He is cheering us on.

Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.