“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” (Hebrews 12:2).
TEXT — Hebrews 12:1-4
Message
Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya is the world’s most successful marathon runner. He has run four of the ten fastest marathons in history. Kipchoge claimed his first individual world championship title in 2003 by winning the junior race at the World Cross Country Championships and setting a world junior record for the 5000m. When asked: “Do you even feel pain like the rest of us mortals? “Absolutely. I am human, like everyone in this world,” Kipchoge says. “But I have a goal with pain. I try to control my brain and tell myself, listen: where the pain increases, that is where the success is.”
Life is a race – not a hundred-meter dash, but a marathon. It requires a lot of patience and endurance. And it is enduring patience that wins the laurel at the finishing line. You will only finish well and strong if your eyes are constantly set upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The secret of Christ’s victory is that He knows the game’s result before it begins. Life’s enigmatic problem is resolved when a mortal man can envision God’s purpose for his life, as revealed in the holy Scriptures.
The Lord Jesus Christ knew what had been written concerning Him. He thought, talked, walked, and worked following divine revelations. Christ’s patience in pains and pangs is the inviolable roadmark for us if our lives and labours bear enduring fruits on earth and hereafter. Knowledge procures power. Once you possess what God has written concerning you, your life will be of success and significance.
You cannot see God physically: but His words are at your disposal. If you have made Christ the Monarch of your life by faith and repentance, make His word the final arbiter of every minute detail of your life. Give Him the unrivalled authority over your heart, and decidedly follow Him, bearing your cross as He did. Christ despised the shame and endured the cross, and He is now set at the right hand of majesty. All who follow Him will be crowned to reign with Him eventually.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
