Disciples Path: Week 3:Day 1 – Gifts

Hebrews 12:1-2, CEB

So then, with endurance, let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up,  and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne.  

                In 2013, I became the second Pastor of a 14-yr old congregation.  The founding Pastor was moving on to another appointment and I was chosen to take over.  One of the things he told me in our first meeting was that he felt like he was giving me one of his children.   For fourteen years, he had spent the majority of his time developing and growing the church, sometimes working around the clock to do what needed to be done.  He had a tear in his eye as he told me the story.

                Ever since that time, I am always aware of the fact that we are the beneficiaries of the costly investments of others.  Much of the life we have comes from resources given by those who came before us.   If we keep tracing that back through generations, we discover a “great cloud of witnesses” that were faithful stewards of what they were given and eventually passed it down to us. 

We are now the stewards and we have a choice.  Do we invest our resources to faithfully preserve and build on the legacy we have received or does the chain of faithfulness end with us.  What will we hand off to the next generation?  Spend some time today thinking about these things. 

Questions:  What about your life do you enjoy, not because of your own effort/investment, but because someone else paid a price for that which you now benefit?  What do you hope to hand off to those coming after you?  What will making that handoff require of you?

Prayer:  Master, make us aware of the countless ways we benefit from the price paid by others.  Open our hearts to paying the price to benefit those who are next in the line of the great cloud of witnesses.  Amen.

Song: We are Surrounded (By a Great Cloud of Witnesses) – Joseph Martin