Hebrews 12:1 (NASB)

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Bible Commentary

Hebrews 12:1 is a Bible verse in the New Testament where Paul is encouraging the believers to stay strong and persevere against the sin we so easily give into.

God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows our every want, our every need and feeling, plus every shortcoming we have. In Hebrews 12:1, Paul is telling us God knows we ALL have sin that we have difficulty resisting. It might be the sin of unforgiveness, of lust, or greed, stealing…whatever it is, God knows our struggle.

Paul tells us that we have “a cloud of witnesses surrounding us.” What this means is, we have a heavenly crowd cheering us on to VICTORY from this sin. If you look up the meaning of cloud in this verse, the definition is: a large dense multitude. So we can picture a heavenly stadium filled with a large dense multitude of heavenly beings cheering us on, while we are running our race on the track.

We are not in this struggle alone! Not only do we have God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit helping us, we have an angelic cheering section rooting us on to victory!

Unlocking the Truth – Race of Endurance

Paul goes on to say in Hebrews 12:1, “let us also lay aside every encumbrance.” The definition of “encumbrance” is: burden or a prominent mass.

“And the sin which so easily entangles us.” In the Greek, “easily entangles us” means: easily avoided, admired, or dangerous.

In other words, some of our sins can be easily avoided if we choose to do so, some of our sins we might even admire (look at with pleasure), and some of our sins are extremely dangerous and harmful.

As believers, we know the difference between right and wrong, and when we sin, it becomes a heavy weight, burden or prominent mass on top of us. Paul says to let the sin go, so we can release ourselves from the heavy weight of guilt and shame.

Paul then urges us in Hebrews 12:1 to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.” God not only wants us to run the race, but He wants us to finish the race. We must develop endurance to win the victory over our sins.

One definition of endurance is: the capacity of something to last or to withstand wear and tear. God knows victory over some sins is not immediate. He knows we must develop endurance, the ability to withstand the wear and tear of daily life, of temptations that so easily grab us.

God does not condone sin–period. But He does understand our struggle with it.

As long as we are striving to run the race, putting forth the effort every day to resist the temptations of sin and Satan’s lies, then He along with His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and our Heavenly Cheering Crowd are all right there with us, urging us on to victory.

Study the Bible verse of Hebrews 12:1, and be encouraged about the supernatural support you have in your race of endurance, so you can finish the race in victory.