What is the Point?: Discovering Life's Deeper Meaning and Purpose (17 page)

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The temptation to quit is our greatest temptation. We are tempted to draw back in our diligent pursuit of a deeper life in Jesus, not because we are being persecuted but because we have love of other things that gradually takes over the sacred space of our lives. Often we have cares of this world that choke out the seed of the Word that took root early on in our relationship with Jesus (Luke 8:13–14). We sometimes get tired in the fight and want to quit pressing for wholeheartedness because it seems like too much effort. This causes us to slip from our primary life purpose, and over time we find ourselves in the dark.

The desire to quit is common, not just in Christianity but in all of life. How many times do you hear someone say, “I just want to quit”? They do not even know what they want to quit; they just want to quit pressing toward their goals. We have a propensity to want to check out, stop pressing, and just give up. All of us face this in different times of our lives for different reasons. Maybe it is the pain of disappointment, the fatigue of working and not getting credit for it, or being misunderstood and overlooked. Often it is just our raw, fleshly desire to indulge. We want to “check out” and “veg out.” Some would prefer to watch movies all day. Others want to play video games, eat, daydream, or socialize. Some of these things are OK, but when done in excess they cause great damage. So much of the human race is ready to quit a lot of the time, weary and discouraged. It is not different in Christianity. I often hear my good friends say things such as, “Oh, I just can’t do it anymore. I want to quit.” I have had these same complaints in my own heart at times.

There is a weariness that comes with the rigors of life, and we have need of endurance. We have need of a greater endurance the longer we are alive. It doesn’t get easier in the battle. Though we learn and grow and often the battleground is different, it is still a war, and we cannot get out of it.

Most of us are not being persecuted. I want to quit just because I am bored. That is enough to make me want to quit. What if I was really being persecuted? The Hebrew believers, in the time this letter was written, were being physically, financially, and emotionally persecuted. Many times our temptation is simply boredom! That is how weak and immature some of us are. I am looking at this passage in Hebrews and thinking, “I need endurance! I have such easy circumstances compared to many in the world, and I still want to quit? I live in a free country. I have a Bible in my own language. In fact, I have several Bibles. I have access to great teaching by godly men throughout history. I have access to much knowledge. I have great teachers, and I am in a good community of people who love Jesus. I have plenty of food, water, clothing, and transportation. I am comfortable. I have understanding of my life purpose and have been given all of the tools I need in order to walk it out. If I am tempted to give up now, how will I survive when great shaking comes? I have need of endurance!”

We have need of endurance in the day of boredom, and we have need of endurance in the great shaking that is coming. There is a great shaking that is going to come, and we must endure today and then. If we cannot endure the pressure that we are under now, we will not endure in that day. The Lord is giving us little tests, little by little, to strengthen us and to bring us into maturity. It is not in vain.

The writer of Hebrews looks at these believers, and he tells them, “You cannot draw back. You have need of endurance. You know the truth. Now follow through.” Faith is believing. It is a set of beliefs that result in follow-through. Faith and faithfulness go hand in hand. We are called to be faithful and to follow through on what we believe decade after decade after decade—not just a summer, not just in Bible school, not for a few radical years of our lives, but decades. The scripture says, “If anyone draws back, My soul has no delight in him” (Heb. 10:38). If we have made it our life goal to be pleasing in His sight (2 Cor. 5:9), we first have to believe that He is really there and watching. Then we have to believe He will reward us, and finally we must be diligent and persevere in seeking.

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ITNESSES

Hebrews 11 is that great hall of fame of the faithful. I love to read it every now and then when I get discouraged or full of self-pity. I pick up Hebrews 11 where it lists one man or woman after the other who endured faithfully to the end because they had a vision of something greater than just this moment.

One of the biggest issue with faith is what I see right now and what I believe for the future—what I see right now and where I believe I am going. Faith presses the limits of my heart to go: “I know that there is more to life than this. There is more to life than just the mundane, than the routine. There is more to life than what I see. This moment has significance because someone is watching me, and it matters. There is a real city where I am going, and there are rewards with glory and garments of light. I am going somewhere. I am passing through this life as a missionary and an ambassador, but I am not pitching my tent and staying here. Life, as I know it, is not ‘it.’” The great men and women of faith had their foreheads set like flint. They were on a journey. Their self-identification was, “I am a pilgrim. I am a stranger in this life.” (See 1 Peter 2:11.)

Have you caught a glimpse of that city that you are going to? Honestly, I have barely caught a glimpse. It is effort for me sometimes. Mike Bickle says, “If you do not think rightly of heaven, you will not think often of heaven.”

I need a greater revelation of what is coming. I have to remind myself that I am going somewhere and this world is not my home. I work at faith and keep pulling my heart and realigning my soul. When I get weighted down with the cares of this life thinking, “This is as good as it is going to get,” I have to lift up my eyes and set my mind on things above again and again.

These men and women of faith knew there was a city they were going to. They were not only looking forward to the Messiah, but they were also looking forward to a city. They caught a glimpse of a real location they were going toward, and therefore they identified themselves as citizens of that place and not of this world. It says in Hebrews 11:38 that “the world was not worthy” of them.

“By faith Noah . . . moved with godly fear, prepared an ark” (v. 7). For one hundred twenty years he persevered in faith. Are you kidding me? Building a boat for one hundred twenty years while preaching righteousness to sinful people who were mocking him? I find it hard to pray one hundred twenty days for something before I want to give up. This man was consistent. Faith is not just a moment of exhilaration. Faith is consistency. He was moved with godly fear, which means he knew God was watching him, and it caused him to be faithful and endure. By faith Abraham was waiting for the city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God (v. 10). He was wandering around in a wilderness. He was in the land, but he did not build the earthly city because he was looking for another city. He said, “I am a stranger here.”

We are not “strangers” where we check out and forget about people, but we are pilgrims and missionaries. We are on a mission as ambassadors. I am an ambassador here to tell the world that there is more than meets the eye. There is more to life than this. I declare, “Do you want to come to the wedding? Do you want to come that glorious city?” We go to the highway. We go to the byways, to the rich and to the poor. We go to the good and the bad, and we say, “Come, come to the city. Come to the marriage. Come to the wedding. Come to the real thing.” (See Matthew 22:4.) This whole life is a shadow of the age to come. You are in the womb of tomorrow. You are in the womb of eternity. There is more to your life than this. This is important. This is crucial, but God is after something that is eternal. We go to the world, and we invite people to come to the wedding. We are here on a mission. This world, as we know it, is not our home. We are strangers in a foreign land. If you have been born again, you are a citizen of another country. I am looking for that city. I am looking for that homeland. I am looking for that place, and I want to bring as many people as I can with me into that city.

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By faith Moses forsook Egypt. (See Hebrews 11:23–29.) Sometimes in our culture we teach that faith equals money, comfort, healing, happiness, and prosperity. There is some truth in this: the timing is not always what we expect. Look what faith compelled Moses to do. He could have been in the palace in comfort and ease. He was the grandson of the pharaoh. He could have been there, lived life to the fullest, and said, “God has blessed me.” Instead he identified with his God and his people, and he chose to suffer. Scripture says that he actually chose to suffer with his brethren and “he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (v. 27). I love that phrase. He saw the One who is invisible, and because of that he said, “I would rather suffer with Your chosen people and endure a life of suffering knowing that You are watching me than have the pleasures of Egypt. You are invisible, but You are watching, and it matters and it counts. I would rather suffer in this age than to live in the king’s palace and suffer in the age to come.” He did the math. He knew he was going somewhere. And the Lord said, “That is faith. That is righteousness.”

If you look at some of the things these men and women in Hebrews 11 endured, there were a lot of good things: they were mighty in battle, they had some of their dead raised, and they saw great miracles. Then it goes on to say that they were tortured, not accepting deliverance because they wanted a better resurrection. Some went through trials. Others were mocked. Some were whipped and beaten, chained and afflicted, and even killed. Some of them were tormented. They had good and bad. Sometimes the dead were raised, and sometimes the dead were not raised. They endured from every side. The world was not worthy of them.

The writer of Hebrews was looking at these men and women who were considering drawing back from the faith, and he said, “Do you really want to draw back?” Then he paints a picture of this great amphitheater filled with a multitude of men and women who had gone before them, who ran the race by faith. He says, “Look, it is possible. They did it. They were just like you. They had a nature just like yours (James 5:17). They were not superhuman. They were just like you. They did it by faith. You can do it too. You can do it!” He is painting this picture. “What I am asking you to do is not too hard for you. Look at that great cloud of witnesses!” He just lists them one after the other. “Look! Behold! You are from a line of people of faith who have gone before you.”

We are not running this race with the people in our generation. I do not look to the left and to the right and say, “Well, I am doing pretty good. I am a little more radical than they are.” No, I’m running with Moses, Abraham, and John the Beloved. I am running with Elijah and John the Baptist. These are the people I want to run with. Look at this great cloud of witnesses who endured, by faith, to the end.

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UN THE
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Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

—H
EBREWS
12:1

There are two ways these men and woman are witnesses. First, they witness by showing us it is possible, as though they are saying, “We did it! You can do it too!” Secondly, they are witnessing by watching. They are watching the generations through history, but there is one generation that is going to finish this race that was started six thousand years ago. It has been a relay race, and the baton has gone from one hand the next, from one generation to the next generation. As the baton of faith has been passed on, the name of Jesus has spread like a wild vine all across the entire world. There will be a generation that is going to finish the race, and I promise you, this race will be completed stronger than it began.

To the early Christians the writer of Hebrews says, “Look around at that great amphitheater. Do not look to your neighbor. Do not look to the left or the right. Do not compare yourself to yourselves. Look up! Look around. You are listed among the mighty. You are listed among the strong. You are listed among the noble and the faithful ones. Run the race! Look around at this great cloud of witnesses, and let us run with endurance!” Scripture says the same to us today.

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OOK TO
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ESUS

. . . 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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

—H
EBREWS
12:2

After seeing this list of all of these great men and women of faith, it is culminating in intensity. These Hebrew believers were leaning into the message now. They were starting to feel emboldened in their spirit. Then he says, “Look at Jesus! Jesus is the author, the finisher of our faith who endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.”

Some people read this verse and think it means Jesus ran our race for us so now we can just be carried along. No, Jesus, as a man, stepped into the race, onto the track, and showed us how to run. Look at Jesus. Don’t just glance at Him. Study Him. Meditate on Him. Get to know Him. Do you know what His life was like? How did He live before the Father? How did He live before man? How did He come and go? How did He find His identity? Where did He find His strength? What was His value system? To look at Jesus means to study Him and to feast on Him. Come to Him in the Scripture through the Spirit and look unto Him. He showed us the way to run. He did not run for us.