The Gift of Faith

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing

our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12: 2

Read Hebrews 12:1-3

Self-help. We find it in books and magazine articles. We seek it out in tutorials and podcasts. We flock to conferences and symposiums in search of it. We are always looking for the “experts” to tell us the next best set of steps to follow to help us succeed at this thing called life – even as it pertains to our faith.

The truth is, Jesus is the best example for us to follow and the word of God is the only book we really need to live our best life. Hebrews 12 says that Jesus is the author and perfecter of faith. Scripture defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith begins with Jesus, not ourselves. Our faith is tied to the promises of God and the fulfillment of those promises through His son Jesus Christ.

Not only was Jesus with God in the beginning, not only is Jesus the word of God – these things alone show him as the originator of faith - but he also took on flesh to run the same race that he has laid out for us. And we’re not talking about a quick sprint or a nice jog – it’s an obstacle race, carrying doubt, crawling through fear, climbing up the mountaintops and jumping over temptations. But Jesus did it all first so that he could show us the way, point us back to God and be the sustenance we would need to run our own race.

Because of all that Christ accomplished through his life, death and resurrection, our faith is made whole in Him. He perfected our faith. He became the ideal example for us to follow. Jesus clothed himself in flesh and carried out his faith mission to perfect completion. Though we will never be able to reach that same level of perfection due to our sin nature, Jesus left us a beautiful trail of footsteps to pursue and sent his holy spirit to dwell within us to continue to light the way.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus is all the help we need. He is our “expert” to look to so that as we run our mission of faith -with all the obstacles, trials and tribulations it is sure to hold – we will not grow weary, we will not lose our way.

Family Activity: Invite each member of the family to share their faith story (i.e. how did you come to know Jesus, how has Jesus impacted your life or what questions do you have about salvation).