(Pastor James Scarborough, Donalsonville Assembly of God)

We are urged with these words in Hebrews 12:1 to continue on the journey of faith: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (NIV).

The writer had just written about numerous persons who lived by faith, trusting God for the impossible. Such witnesses are well worth following. What were they like? Words are not adequate to properly describe such faithful men and women of God, but several key words come to my mind.

The first word is sacrifice. The great cloud of faithdriven witnesses were willing to make extreme sacrifice for the cause of Christ. The writer of the Book of Hebrews described some of the adversities for God's people of that day: "They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated" (Hebrews 11:37). It should be our prayer that we never have to face such opposition for exercising our faith, but it should also be our prayer that we live such devoted lives to Christ that we would die for Him if so required.

Another word associated with that great cloud of faithful witnesses for Christ is challenge. They faced tremendous challenges, but they did not give up. They stayed the course faithfully. One challenge mentioned was the crossing of the Red Sea during Moses' day as the Israelites were escaping Egypt and beginning their journey to the land of promise (Hebrews 11:29). God made a dry path through the sea by which they crossed safely to the other side while the waters closed in on the pursuing Egyptians, destroying them. Moses, situated at that time in the proverbial position of "between a rock and a hard place," could have surrendered to defeat, but he instead stood up to the challenge by faith and experienced great victory for God's people. This should encourage us to see the difficulties that we face as challenges for God's power to be demonstrated as we put our faith into practice.

I submit one other word that says something about the cloud of witnesses mentioned in the Book of Hebrews: hope. Even though they did not personally experience all that they were convinced that God had in store for His people, their hope was not diminished. Hebrews 11:13 says this about them: "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth." What a picture of hope! And we can have that same hope today.

Let us allow that great cloud of witnesses that Scripture tells us about to serve as examples for us to follow. And then may we become people who are willing to sacrifice for our faith, to stand up to whatever challenges come our way, and to maintain a solid hope no matter what the immediate circumstances indicate. By so doing, we can become faithful examples for others to follow.