God has a plan and purpose for each of us in our lives. He has assigned a race for us to participate in. How committed are we in running that race with endurance, perseverance, passion and patience? There are many examples of people who have gone before us that showed evidence of faith in Jesus Christ, despite their own failings. God knows the struggles we have that hinders us from handing our live totally over to Him. Psalm 23 gives us the encouragement to run the race that God has proposed for us. We need to fix our eye on Jesus, the only one we can truly depend on.

True biblical faith is not a "I hope so" type of faith, but as Warren Weirsbe indicated, it is a "confident obedience to God's Word in spite of circumstances and consequences". How does faith work in our life? We hear God's Word, we trust God's Word and then we act on it. Faith is only as good as the object we place our faith in. As Christians, our faith is in God and Jesus Christ. Faith is our foundation - it is the confidence of things hoped for. Faith enables us to see what others cannot see - it enables us to do what other people cannot do.

The law of the Old Testament was only a shadow of what was to come with Jesus. The old sacrifices were a constant reminder of the sin of man and were never going to take away the need to carry out more sacrifices as the sin continued. There needed to be a better way - a sacrifice that was once for all time. Jesus has come to do God's will - to give up His life on the cross and establish a new covenant. Whilst living tn this world, we are not perfect - we have sinned and rebelled against God but can be made whole and perfect in the eyes of God because of Jesus' sacrifice. We are all accountable for our sin. We need a Saviour. We need Jesus.

We are reminded again in this passage that Jesus is the true High Priest who has finished His sacrificial work and now sits on the right hand of God in heaven. For the Jews, being under the old law, their lives centred around the temple where sacrifices were offered to the Lord. But this was only a shadow of what was to come with the old law now superceded by Jesus. Today we now have the new covenant which is all about what God has done for us. Jesus has sacrificed Himself so that we can be saved and be forgiven for our sins.

The writer of Hebrews in this passage warns us as Christians not to drift away from God. We need to make the effort to pay attention in the way we live our life - is it our way or God's way? We need to grow in what God has already given to us. Our eternal life is confirmed because of what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. We need to persevere in God, drawing ourselves back to Him. Our hope is in Jesus because He is our rock, our firm foundation, our refuge and our anchor.