Today’s passage has been on my mind much this past week. The phrase that has stood out is “…the race that is set before us…” Each of us is running a different race.

Hebrews 12:1-2

“12 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,

² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Saturday, my family and I headed to Rockford, Michigan to participate in the “Mitchell’s Run Thru Rockford.” It is a 5K supporting Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy as our family is personally affected by this awful disease. As we lined up at the starting line and ran the race, it hit me. We were all there running the same race. We were all running the same course and going to the same finish line. We were all supporting the same cause. However, each of us even in our little group were running a different race. My nephew is a runner and was working to do his personal best. My youngest brother is also a runner, but was more focused on running a good run through fatigue after months of working overtime. My nephew’s girlfriend walked with me as we got to know each other more. My other brother who attended walked with my mom close to us and brought smiles to all around. Mom and I both used matching scooters and worked to manage multiple health conditions while on the race. It took planning ahead to do so. Each of us had a wonderful time. Each of us had a little different experience from the rest.

In fact, every person there Saturday had a different race experience, but one thing united us. Each and every one of us have been affected by Duchenne Muscular Dsytrophy (DMD). Each person there knows the hard of a daily life affected by DMD, the sorrow, the hard. Compassion flowed as families were with people who understood. At different times, you could see tears in people’s eyes as they were there to support each other in the midst. You also saw many smiles as we could simply live that day aside from DMD. We could simply be people for the day with others understanding when we were slower or struggling. It was, as always, an amazing day.

As we ran the race, I could not help but compare it to our Christian walk, our race of life as Hebrews 12:1-2 had been on my heart this week. It is so easy to compare races with those around us and think that others are doing better than we are or handling things better than we are or have it easier than we do.

We need to resist this comparison thinking. Our race is different.

1. We have a cloud of witnesses. The “Wherefore” is referring to what comes before which is the Hall of Faith. These people stood for God no matter what came.
2. We need to lay aside every weight, every sin, everything that comes between us and living for God. It comes easily, but we need to resist and set it aside.
3. Then, we run with patience the race that is set before us. We don’t run someone else’s race, but ours.

We run this race looking to Jesus as our example and relying on Him for the strength. He ran His hard race focused on the joy that was set before Him. He endured all and reached His prize, now sitting on God’s right hand. We also look forward to the joy that awaits us.

Today, look to Jesus and run your race.