Summary: Don't live in a smaller world than God has given to you. Forces in our life strive to shrink our world and our hopes. We are enticed by distraction that shrinks our focus on deeper values. We are lured into conventional thinking that withers our imagination for living in God's world. The sermon of this unknown writer, that has come to us as The Letter to the Hebrews, is concerned about how we go deeper with God and how we are transformed in Christ. The preacher here does not want us to live in a smaller world than God has given to us. There is a full-throated attempt in these verses to remind us of those in the past who have lived faithfully and deeply in God's larger world and to guide us to a faithful, deep, imaginative tomorrow. For Hebrews, the path from today to tomorrow is lined with a Cloud of Witnesses - remembering their own struggles as they recognize our faith challenges and reminding us of the promises of God in Jesus Christ. As Tom Long observes on this text, "When we see the disciplined, loving, strong, merciful and faithful way that Jesus ran the race, we are motivated to lace up our running shoes, to grasp the baton, and to sprint to the finish line." [i] Jesus is our guide to God's tomorrow. Our Cloud of Witnesses ran their race, followed Jesus to the end, and now bears witness to the power of God. They line our journey showing us what faith lived out looks like. They are the ones shouting encouragement to us to not live in a smaller world than God has given to us.
