Upward Devo (Week of 3/6/23)

Memory Verse: Hebrews 12:1-2

Hebrews 12:1–2 NLT

1 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.

This season, we have learned about what it means to have true faith in God. We have done this by looking at some of the most famous heroes in the Bible as they are listed in Hebrews 11. We finished looking at that chapter last week.

This week, we are looking at Hebrews 12:1-2.

Go ahead and read the passage at this point.

Notice first that it mentions the “huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith.” This is referring to the heroes we have learned about all year! And what is it that we are supposed to do because of them? Specifically, these verses give us two ways that we need to respond to what we have been learning.

First, it says that we should “strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that trips us up.” (v. 1). Weights are really heavy, so if you had weights attached to you, it would probably make it pretty tough to run up and down the court; you might even end up tripping a few times! Sin is like that. It gives us from being able to stand and live the type of faithful life that God wants us to live. So we should run away from sin.

Second, it says that we should “run with race with endurance that God has set before us.” We need to keep our eyes off of sin and to keep our eyes on God. How do you do that? Look at what it says next: “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” This is where we are reminded that Jesus is the ultimate hero of our story. All of the other heroes we learned about this year were sinful people, but Jesus never sinned.

We also see here that Jesus is the ultimate example of faith. No one had a better faith than Jesus. So if we want to become more faithful, we have to look to Jesus for it. He is the only reason that we are able to have faith to begin with! It is not because of anything that we have done, but rather because of His great love for us. Jesus’s faith creates faith in us.

This season, I hope that all of these stories of different Biblical characters have taught you the importance of running away from sin and having faith in God. Keep your eyes on Jesus and allow Him to grow your faith more and more each day.

Discussion Questions

(K-2nd Grade)

What is it that makes sin bad?

How can we keep our eyes on Jesus?

(3rd-6th Grade)

Why do you think that we sin so much?

How can we let Jesus grow our faith in him?

(7th Grade and Up)

How should all of the Biblical characters that we have learned about this year impact the way that you live your life?

What is one thing you can do to let Jesus grow your faith this week?