A FOUR PART SERIES
Hebrews 12:1-3 is a daily operating framework revealing the right mentality, focus, and actions for Christian business owners. It talks about identifying our most important work, eliminating distractions, preventing failures, and avoiding burnout–all keys to leading our organizations well and being effective for Christ in the process.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up” (Hebrews 12:1-3 NLT).
One of the key parts in this passage is “…run with endurance the race God has set before us” (vs 1). Our “race” is the daily activities and roles that God has placed before us and wants our time and energy to be dedicated to. For me, that is running our business, writing this blog and being a father and a husband. God has clearly confirmed these races in my life and as a result I have the confidence to run after them with endurance. What’s concerning is that if we’re running a race that’s not actually from God, we’re on a major detour and we might not even know it. The key is discerning and understanding what activities and roles are clearly from God and which ones are not. To do this, we need to play an active role in the process which is why I bring my business before the Lord at least once a year with open hands, asking for confirmation that this is still a race he wants me to run. For most of us, business is a race that God has clearly set before us; for others, business might be a “weight” or “sin” that needs to be stripped off in order to run a different race.
If we know the race God has currently placed before us is business, how then, do we run with endurance?
First, we gain endurance by “stripping off every weight that slows us down” (vs 1). Stripping off weight is removing the non-sinful distractions that make us less effective. It’s any “time suck” in our day ranging from unnecessary research, emails, ineffective meetings or side projects that do not directly make the company more effective. These tasks are often good things, but end up cluttering our time and distracting us from the race. Stripping off these distractions is about saying “NO!” Jesus was relentless about asking people to focus on the most important tasks and saying “NO” to potential distractions, even if they were “good” things.
Here are two of many examples: In Luke 10:4 we see Jesus sending out 72 disciples to minister to specific towns. And yet he instructs them “don’t stop and greet anyone on the road.” If that’s not hyper focus on the race set before them, I don’t know what is. To paraphrase, Jesus is saying, “Go minister in that town. Be completely focused on praying for them and sharing the Gospel with them, so much so that you don’t even distract yourself with evangelizing or talking to people as you travel.” We see a similar focus in the well-known story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:40-42). Jesus corrects Martha saying “There is only one thing worth being concerned about” and that “thing” was not striving to be a good hostess; it was being in communion with Jesus.
Secondly, we gain endurance by stripping off sin “…especially the sin that so easily trips us up” (vs 1). Addressing sin demands a lot more attention than the first step of ridding ourselves of distractions. Ineffective use of our time can slow us down, but tripping in a race can lead to rolled ankles, pulled muscles and face plants causing us to abandon the race entirely. Sin (an affair with a colleague, ego, pride, jealousy, selfish ambition, etc.) can take down an entire company, ruin our testimony, foster a toxic work culture or lead us to make decisions that are NOT in the best interest of the company. Unchecked sin could be the iceberg that damages or sinks our business, the trip that injures or removes us from the race altogether.
Throwing off unnecessary weight and sin is important, but it won’t get us to the finish line by itself. We need to run with endurance, not growing weary and quitting “…by keeping our eyes on Jesus” (vs 2). We tend to think stripping off weight will prevent burnout, but this verse clearly demonstrates it has to do with where we focus our eyes and minds. If the end goal is expanding our business, we will likely grow tired and burn out, but if we look to Jesus, a champion that has already won the race, we have a perfect framework for how to endure. When Jesus was on the cross (part of His race) He focused on the joy waiting for Him in heaven. It was this eternal perspective that allowed Him to endure the shame, pain and agony of His race. So when we think about and understand how Jesus endured, then it’s possible that we also “won’t become weary and give up” (vs 3). Our endurance, the pain tolerance for our race that prevents quitting, comes from “keeping our eyes on Jesus” (vs 2) and focusing on the finish line in heaven rather than any marker in our business. We can also take courage knowing that we are “surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses” (vs 1) that testifies to this life of faith and acts as an example that we too can run, endure, and finish the race set before us.
So let’s seek God’s confirmation for the race He has set before us, ensuring we are running His race and not our own. Then with confidence we run with endurance in our race as Christian Business Owners.
The daily operating framework is simple: we wake up and do business (our race) with our eyes focused on Christ, and our mind anticipating the joy in heaven. Throughout the day we strip away distractions and sin that interfere with leading, growing, and developing our businesses. A focus on heaven provides an eternal perspective allowing us to endure anything business might throw at us. And it is ONLY through this hope found in Christ that we gain the endurance and strength that prevents weariness and burnout when business (our race) gets tough.