Meet Lindsay Briggs

Imagine you're running an endurance race (e.g., a half or full marathon), and for the first half of the race, you're wearing a 50-pound vest. You would likely feel weighed down, exhausted, sluggish, "not-like-Usain-Bolt." It would be harder to pick up your feet and drive forward toward your goal -- the finish line. Now, imagine stripping off that weighted vest and continuing the race. How would you feel? Answer: lighter and probably quicker, too! One thing is certain: it would definitely be much easier to finish the race without that vest weighing you down!

Our sin can do the same thing to us: slow us down, trip us up, and hold us back in our race of faith. So often we get caught up in the things of this world and in our sin -- running round and round on the track of life -- while focusing only on ourselves and our circumstances. But when we fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, only then will we be able to run straight toward our goal of a lifetime of faithfulness.

For me, when times were tough and circumstances seemed out of my control, I turned to things that I thought I could control. This only led to an eating disorder and depression. I still struggle with these sins at times, but it is by faith in Christ alone that I'm able to endure through the midst of any difficult circumstance. I have to remind myself that my struggle with sin is nothing compared to what Jesus endured for me on the cross -- the greatest account of suffering in all of history.

Not only did Jesus suffer physically, but He also experienced God's just wrath. He took the sins of the entire world upon Himself; however, "the joy that was set before him" (verse 2) gave Jesus the strength to suffer well. In the same way, we also can take joy in our suffering. God uses difficult circumstances and suffering to grow us. Think of it as the training ground for Christian maturity.