Galatians 6:9
About this verseKeep on doing good without losing heart, because a harvest will come at the right time for those who do not give up.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Cheered on by those who have gone before, believers are to drop whatever holds them back and run their race with endurance, eyes fixed on Jesus.
So then, since we too have so vast a cloud of witnesses all around us, let us strip off every burden, and the sin that wraps itself around us so readily, and let us run the race laid out ahead of us, and run it with endurance. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer who leads the way in faith and brings it to perfection. For the sake of the joy that lay ahead of him, he endured a cross and counted its shame as nothing, and he has taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne.
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Say the verse aloud, filling in each blank. Tap a blank for a hint.
What Hebrews 12:1-2 means
After a chapter listing people who lived by faith, the writer turns them into a crowd of witnesses around a track. The image is a distance race, not a sprint — endurance is the named requirement.
Two things get laid aside: sin, and also ‘every burden’ — things not wrong in themselves but which slow you down. And the eyes are fixed on Jesus rather than on the running. Memorising both verses keeps the instruction and its focus together.
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Questions about Hebrews 12:1-2
What does Hebrews 12:1-2 mean?
It urges believers to strip off sin and anything that hinders, and to run their race with endurance while keeping their eyes fixed on Jesus, who founded and perfects their faith.
Who is the ‘cloud of witnesses’?
The people of faith described in Hebrews 11 — those who trusted God before us, pictured as spectators surrounding the track we are still running.