Living a life of faith calls for dedication. There is a cost to pay. Some doubt that it is worth it - but we believe it is.

1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2).

In this text, we read that there is a “great cloud of witnesses” who all affirm that the goal is indeed worth running the race with endurance. We are also reminded that Jesus, the Savior, has already done so. When things got tough, He would think of the goal at the end. He would think of the salvation He would accomplish for us. He would pray, and keep going until victory. In this way He honored the Father and showed His great love for you and me.

The “great cloud of witnesses” referred to here are those men and women listed in the previous chapter - Hebrews 11. There we read that “by faith Abel offered”; “by faith Noah prepared”; “Abraham obeyed”; “Moses chose” and many others including Sarah, Gideon, David, Samuel and Rahab. Hebrews 11 has been called “the honor roll of faith”.

Notice something here: faith is not just passive intellectual acceptance of God. The faith that saves is the faith that obeys. This faith of Abraham and Sarah, of Noah and Moses, was active. It is something lived by; we live by faith. The Hebrew writer, speaking of Christ, says, “And having been made perfect (or complete), He became to all those that obey Him the source of eternal life.” (Hebrews 5:9).

These witnesses speak to us through the centuries by their deeds as well as their words that they were looking for a city “whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). This city they looked for did not, and does not, exist in this realm. They believed the promise of God, and considered themselves “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13).

Sometimes living in this world is difficult. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. These men and women of Hebrews 11, this great cloud of witnesses, affirm that it is so.