Heb 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Jesus, consider Jesus, and all that He endured against Himself from all the sinners surrounding Him. The pure, undefiled, living in and among sinners. Jesus ENDURED the way He was called to live, the way he chose to live to bring us life everlasting. We like to imagine it was easy for Him. We like to believe that it wasn't hard at all for Him to live among us sinners, yet just try to recall one instance in your own life when you've been convicted during a situation that you were in among those who weren't godly and how out of place you felt. I know personally I've been in several of those situations, and the devil will whisper to me that I'm being 'holier than thou', that I'm thinking myself superior to others, which we all know is wrong. I've been accused of being that way by others just because I've refused to engage in the same behavior they do and it pricks my conscience and causes to me to doubt myself. It's like a Catch-22 situation, a no win scenario. I want to follow God and yet following God leads to NOT following things I'm convicted aren't godly, which leads others to believe I'm acting self-righteous and so on and so on and… so on. I know how it is for me in those sorts of situations and I'm FAR from sinless! Jesus was sinless and lived among sinners, He endured. We are called to endure. We are called to consider what Jesus went through and we are told that we are to do so in order for us NOT to grow weary and faint in our minds.
Growing wearing and fainting in our minds. Do you understand what that is saying? It's talking about our minds, our thoughts, and our becoming discouraged which can lead to depression and we all know what can happen if we become discouraged and get depressed. It's very easy to stop racing in the race for eternal life, it's very easy to give up and let ourselves indulge in the sins that beset us easily. Sinning will ALWAYS be easier than not sinning as long as we are indulging our carnal natures and not our spiritual natures.
Have you ever found it easier to just tell a lie than the truth? Have you ever told the truth and have it hurt a relationship, a friendship, family- knowing that a lie would have been so much easier and less hurtful? It's easier to give into sin than it is to fight against it. And when we grow weary of having to live around others in our lives that are a contradiction to the spiritual life we want to lead, we can become very discouraged and faint in our minds, our spiritual life can faint. When our physical bodies faint happens? We stop functioning, we fall down, and until we are revived we remain seemingly lifeless. The same thing will happen to our spiritual lives. When we faint spiritually we fall down, we are spiritually lifeless we are not living in the Spirit but wholly given over to our carnal natures. Is it any wonder we are to behold our Savior and all He endured knowing that we are called to endure as He did and that no matter how hard it is for us to endure it was a million times harder for Him to endure. We really need to understand that Jesus had to endure. Jesus suffered long before He was whipped, long before a crown of thorns was thrust down upon His head, long, long before He felt the nails pierce his flesh. Long before He was dying upon the cross He suffered. He endured temptations, He endured the pain of sinners all around Him in a world that was never meant to be filled with sin. He who was there at Creation lived among those He'd created, those who had become corrupted by sin and He knew better than ANY the horrors of sin and the horrific changes wrought by sin in creatures and all His creation. He suffered. He endured.
Heb 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
When we consider our Savior we have to realize we who endure what we believe is a lot of pain and heartache, endure so much less than He endured on all levels.
We can't allow ourselves to spiritually faint, so when we even have a hint of growing weary spiritually we need to get on our knees and pray for faith, for strength, for the Holy Spirit to uplift us. You might instantly think that you'd never get off your knees if this is the case because so much in life makes us weary. Remember this?
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints
We really do need to be praying always, always connected to our Savior, always aware of our spiritual life as much as we are aware of our physical life. Our spiritual well-being matters so much more than we can imagine, and people neglect so much of their spiritual life.
May God help us to not grow weary, and to never faint in our minds. May we look upon our Savior and gain the spiritual strength we need to endure all we are to face good and bad until we see Him face to face in that glorious day of His second coming.
By His grace!
By His love!
By His mercy!
Amen.
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