Therefore.....

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

            --Hebrews 12:l

I took a class in college about the book of Hebrews taught by an amazing man of God named Brother Snell. We started out talking about how the prophets foretold of the coming High Priest that was above all priests. And we moved into discussing the differences between the Old Law and the New Law and how Jesus was the One to make it all happen. Then we came to chapter 11. Oh, good ol’ chapter 11. The Faith Chapter. You know the one, right? Where the writer goes through and recounts all of these amazing people of faith that have gone before. People who have been flogged and scourged. People who have built arks. People who have called down plagues on kingdoms. People who have packed up and left the only home they’ve ever known to go to a place they’ve never even heard of. People of faith.

And then comes Hebrews 12:1 and that wonderful word that you grow to love when you go to a bible college, “therefore…” Ahhh, therefore…what a great transitional word. It means that whatever comes after is in direct response to whatever has come before. “Therefore…since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…” My amazing professor taught me that this verse meant that we are surrounded by all of these amazing people that the author of Hebrews describes. Those people are surrounding me. Cheering me on. Encouraging me in the faith. Helping me to throw off the things that hinder and to get rid of the sin that so easily entangles.

I have always absolutely loved that idea. What an amazing sight to imagine. Going through life in your “stadium” with all of the people of the faith in the stands, cheering you on. People like Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Rehab, Dorcas, Lydia, Mary, Martha, and so many more. All of them cheering me on, clapping, whooping and hollering when I do what God is calling me to do or when I make the hard choice. People with whom I can relate. People who have gone through some of the same crazy things that I have. People who have handled it way better than I have. People who have handled it poorly, but whom I have learned so much from because of that. My great cloud of witnesses.

The older I get, the more I realize that it is not just the people of the bible who are my great cloud of witnesses. In fact, it isn’t even just people who have passed on to the greater realms of Heaven that are in my cloud of witnesses. Some of the people that fill the greatest section of the stands are people who are still very much alive. People like my amazing and godly parents who support me and tell me how proud they are of me and what I have chosen to do as a career. People like my aunts or uncles who are concerned about my well-being. People like my grandparents who send me emails when I accomplish something. People like my Sunday School teachers from when I was just a small child hiding behind my mom’s legs who still find time to pull me aside and ask me how I am “really doing.” People like the men and women whom I have really just met in the church I am ministering with who take the time to stop and give me a hug and tell me how glad they are that I have come to minister to their children or grandchildren. People like my friend from college that still asks me the “hard questions” even though we hardly ever find time to talk to one another. People like my best friend who never seems to tire of showing me grace and reminding me that God does indeed have a plan for me, even when I am having a hard time seeing it. I couldn’t even begin to count how many times these people have helped me with the sin that so easily entangles. A stern word here; a grace-filled word there.

Why is this important? Why take the time to blog about this topic? Well, because as I learn and grow, I am beginning to understand just how important it is to surround myself with these people. We must not neglect the power of the “extended family,” as Mark DeVries calls them in his book Family-Based Youth Ministry. It really, truly does take a village to raise a child. And what better village then the Family of God!

So who is in your great cloud of witnesses? Who is cheering you on toward love and good deeds? Who is helping you take off the sin that so easily entangles and everything that hinders? And if you are a parent, who is in the cloud for your children? Who is helping you raise your child and train him/her up in the way they should go?