1. We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall.
2. We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne.
3. Think about Jesus. He patiently endured the angry insults that sinful people were shouting at him. Think about him so that you won’t get discouraged and stop trying.
4. You are struggling against sin, but you have not had to give up your life for the cause.
5. You are children of God, and he speaks words of comfort to you. You have forgotten these words: “My child, don’t think the Lord’s discipline is worth nothing, and don’t stop trying when he corrects you.
6. The Lord disciplines everyone he loves; he punishes everyone he accepts as a child.” Proverbs 3:11-12
7. So accept sufferings like a father’s discipline. God does these things to you like a father correcting his children. You know that all children are disciplined by their fathers.
8. So, if you never receive the discipline that every child must have, you are not true children and don’t really belong to God.
9. We have all had fathers here on earth who corrected us with discipline. And we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from the Father of our spirits. If we do this, we will have life.
10. Our fathers on earth disciplined us for a short time in the way they thought was best. But God disciplines us to help us so that we can be holy like him.
11. We don’t enjoy discipline when we get it. It is painful. But later, after we have learned our lesson from it, we will enjoy the peace that comes from doing what is right.
12. You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again.