Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

 

We Stand on the Shoulders of Giants 

Bible Reading:  Hebrews 12:1-2

 

Key Verse: We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1)


DEVOTION

Often, we think we are self-made persons; that our achievements, education and position in society are due to our own smartness and hard work. But if we pause and reflect, we will realize that much of what we are we owe to our parents, teachers and mentors. Going ahead of us, they cleared our path and made our lives easier.  We stand on their shoulders.

Hebrews 12 comes after a long list of heroes in the history of Israel and how they paved the way for those who followed. We should read the exhortation of 12: 1-2 in connection with 11: 1-40. Because we are surrounded by such “a great cloud of witnesses”, we are expected to “run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (v. 1). Hebrews 12 gives one of the most glorious pictures of Jesus Christ in all of Scripture. Jesus crowns the list of examples here as the “perfector of faith”.

We are called to run the race by resisting all distractions and with our eyes focused on Christ. The choice of praiseworthy and exemplary persons in the Hebrews critiques popular fascination with the lives of celebrities, whose basic claim to holding people’s attention is wealth, glamour, and notoriety. Today’s passage challenges any interpretation of Christianity as a means to attain consumeristic or materialistic ends.

 

PRAYER

God of our fathers and mothers, we thank you for reminding us that those who went ahead of us straightened our paths and smoothed our ways. Amen.
 

Thought of the day

The Christian way is the way of the cross, as outlined in the end of Hebrews 11, and not a means to prosperity and the enjoyment of temporal gain, as several portray today.
 

Dr. Jesudas Athyal
Immanuel Mar Thoma Church, Kaviyoor

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