Falling Short Of God's Grace

   Heb 12:12-17--Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down,, and the feeble knees: And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. Lest there be any fornication, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

The writer of Hebrews started this chapter with a race metaphor and in these verses the race metaphor resumes.

v12-- wherefore lift up the hands which hang down.

Arms drooping

The first thing that happens to a runner when he starts to tire is that the arms go down slowly. The position and motion of the body are extremely important in running--It maintain proper body coordination and rhythm and it helps you pull your stride (long step). Hands is the first part of the body to show fatigue.

The same thing is true in our spiritual race. When we gets tired of our spiritual race, First thing we notice--Hands going down. We don't affirm the song anymore as it use to be, the message, the testimonies and i know you have seen this in the church. Raising our hand in affirmation with the message proves that we are still in the race. We might be undergoing problems, persecution, which is but a natural thing, things have been harder now than when we are not serving God...but is it worth giving up?...everything you have started? In plain common sense this situation can be decided. The answer is NO and i don't have to explain every reason but i will mention that you have to start from the beginning again and thinking about starting again should discourage you from quitting the race.

As it is important for a physical runner the position of the hands to pull his long stride-- it is also important in our spiritual race. Somebody might be watching you from the congregation itself, they may know what you are going through, and if you show your hand up inspite of all the battle...do you know how great encouragement this will bring to them. In contrary, not doing so may discourage others.

Gal 5:7-- Ye did run well...who did hinder you....Hindrances are coming. for sure--through our kids, companion, people you meet everyday..financial situation and some physical problems will wear us down and we should be aware of all this things for it is clearly written in God's word. When you started the race, you are aware that God did not promise you a bed of roses, easy sailing, right? But God's promise though is that whatever we are going through he is not going to leave us. His promise is that of sufficient grace for all the things you will go through, be it temptation, persecution, frustration or affliction. That is how faithful God is. Paul said " Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might".. Eph 6:10 Paul said in2 Tim 2:1 to be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ. Paul said be strong, it indicates that the strength was not in himself but in the grace of God that is in Jesus Christ. If we rely on our own strength we will fail.

Knees

The second to go down are the knees. First, the arms begin to hang down or droop and then the knees begin to shake.

Now...you really feel tired. Now...you can feel the weakness on your knees.you begin to shake...now..you feel you have come to the valley of decision whether to quit or to continue. The very next thing you know if you're not careful is that you are skipping church. The next thing you do is you are calling the pastor...pray for me...and there is nothing wrong with that. That is the right thing to do but my point is that don't let it be a snare to you especially when the pastor is out holding a revival. Skipping church can easily be justified..but again don't let it be a snare to you. When a pastor is out on a revival, he did not bring the Holy Spirit with him in the sense that the Holy Spirit can't be in the church or that its going to be a dry service. Whoever will take over when the pastor is out needs the back-up of the congregation. It is our chance to prove that we are measuring up to the message, especially along the lines of unity when the pastor is out. Again, don't let this be a snare to you. We serve God, not man so our first priority should be in the church whether the pastor is in or out. That is where we can get our strength.

First the hands begin to go down...second the knees begin to shake, and if you concentrate on the drooping or the shaking you're done. The only way you can continue when this kind of situation arises is to focus on the goal, the very reason why you are in the race. Our goal is to finish the race, to make it to heaven come what may, whatever hardship we encounter along the way, no matter who comes or who goes. Our focusing on the goal should give us that strong determination to continue. If people out there in the world can have strong determination to pursue their goals, to pursue their dreams, How much more can we. We are in a much better position than them for we have God on our side. Our goal, our determination should override whatever obstacles we will encounter along the way.