I was listening to a song recently, and a line in the song, about Jesus being the author and finisher of our faith, taken from Hebrews 12:2, struck me in a different way. The verse says “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 is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (KJV).

Isn’t it interesting that this verse emphasizing Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith comes right after Hebrews 12:1 “Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us! So we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin that just won’t let go. And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us” (CEV).

Does the idea of having a ‘large crowd of witnesses all around us’ bring the pressure on? Does the idea of having lots of people watching you make you feel like you can’t truly be an effective ambassador for Jesus? I was reflecting on this during a Bible study recently. As an ambassador of Christ, and God’s representative wherever I find myself, I want to represent God well, to be a true Christian, to be a light that draws others to God, and yet I can’t say that I always do this perfectly. There is also the challenge of staying strong in the faith during very difficult times. However, being reminded that Jesus is the author and finisher of my faith brings me a lot of comfort. Jesus started it, and he will finish it, or as some translations say, perfect it. I love this quote from J.I. Packer “Your faith will not fail while God sustains it; you are not strong enough to fall away while God is resolved to hold you.” If God is determined to hold on to me (and He is), and He has got the stronger arm, then I can rest safely in the knowledge that I will not fall away because He is holding me. Imagine trying to cross a busy road with a child, and think of how you hold on to the child’s hand with a firm grip, even if the child is squirming and trying to let go. You hold on because you care about the child and don’t want them to be harmed on the road, and you are aware of dangers that the child may be oblivious to. We may even fail to do so sometimes as humans, but God never fails. He is aware of dangers around us, and He holds on to us firmly.

Saying this though, we still have a role to play. We all have sins that ‘just won’t let go’, aka besetting sins, and if we think we don’t, a good prayer to pray is Psalm 139:23-24 (KJV) “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

I came across this video a while ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_4S5yBkSpU. It’s a video of a sheep that has been rescued from a ditch, and what does it do? Decide to never fall in a ditch again? Not really… It skips on happily for a few seconds, and then jumps right back in the ditch again. It reminded me of the verse “All we like sheep…” (Isaiah 53:6). Sadly, I can’t even judge that sheep because I am like that sometimes. That is why 1 Corinthians 15:31 states “I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” Jesus said “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23, ESV). Dying to self, daily, is fundamental. As Tullian Tchividjian puts it “daily Christian living, in other words, is daily Christian dying”. Jesus laid aside His majesty, we are called to lay aside our sins, the weights that slow us down. And we can’t do this as a one off. We are called to be living sacrifices. However, as D.L. Moody noted, “The problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar.”

I’ve been reading stories about Kings from the Old Testament with my kids recently, and after a while you tend to see a pattern… God gives a king the kingdom, king promises to serve God forever, king breaks promise, God tears the kingdom away from said king, gives it to a new king, the new king does the same thing. I mentioned to my sons that a lot of kings made promises to God and failed, over and over, and one of my sons replied…”Until Jesus!” Indeed he was right! Jesus was the only one who never sinned and stayed faithful till the end. And the wonderful news is that this Faithful King is our advocate. As 1 John 2: 1- 2 says “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the whole world”. What an advocate to have! If you go to court, you want the best lawyer to represent you, and we have the best of the best. This does not mean that we continue sinning though. As Romans 6:2 (KJV) puts it, God forbid! Just like a wise person won’t continue committing crimes just because they have a brilliant lawyer.

Therefore when we recognise the besetting sins that slow us down in our Christian race, it is important to be honest about them; to have a plan for what to do when we are tempted (even if it means fleeing without your jacket à la Joseph (Genesis 39); and to have trustworthy and wise people in the faith that we can be accountable to, if there are particular issues that we struggle with. There is also the popular saying, “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop/playground”. This does not mean that we will not rest or be perpetually busy to avoid temptation, but that we are intentional about our rest and what we engage our minds in during a period of rest.

God gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). If we acknowledge daily that we need God’s help, because we really do desperately need it, He will help us, and when temptations come, He will provide a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Dealing with besetting sins is one aspect of dying to self, but it is much broader than that. George Muller is quoted as saying: “There was a day when I died; died to self, my opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren or friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.”

It is not an easy task, this ‘dying to self’ business, and sometimes I wonder if I can even do this (I hope to write about this topic one day). But thank God that we do not have to do it in our own power. Every day is a new chance, a fresh sheet of paper, crisp, unspotted, a sign of God’s fresh mercy. Each day we are alive is another opportunity God is giving us. If God thought we didn’t deserve another chance, that there was no point in giving us another chance, then we won’t be alive, seeing a new day. Thank God that His mercies are new every morning! (Lamentations 3:22-23). Even if we failed yesterday, it should not stop us from confessing our sins every day, making amends for the wrong we have done, and with God’s help, resolving to live right today. Abraham was commended for his faith, despite his flaws – he pretty much lied about his wife, and slept with his wife’s maid, trying to make God’s promises come to pass in his own way and at his own time, instead of being patient and waiting on God. Yet he is still listed among the heroes of faith, and his faith was counted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4). Why? Because he believed God. Yes, he made mistakes, yes he got impatient, but that belief in God was what counted in the end.

Remember that you are not strong enough to let go when God is determined to hold on to you. May God help us as we daily let go of self and sins and take up Jesus and His cross. The less we are holding on to, the more tightly we can cling to Jesus. May we truly be lights that draw others to Christ, remembering always that the source of light is not us but Jesus, and that He will not stop shining through us. Our life’s lamp may get foggy and clouded with sin sometimes, but with Jesus powerful cleansing power, it can shine brightly again!

Image source here.