看見我朋友艾拉在社群網站的動態更新時，我忍不住哭了。2022年，烏克蘭首都基輔遭敵軍圍困，住在那裡的艾拉不得不逃離家園。幾天後，她分享了一張自己過去完成跑步項目後舉起烏克蘭國旗的照片。她寫道：「我們都在盡最大的努力，為一場名為生命的馬拉松而奔跑。這幾天，讓我們帶著永遠不滅的盼望，竭盡所能地奔跑吧！」在接下來的日子，艾拉不斷發布消息，讓我們瞭解如何為她的國家遭受苦難的人們禱告並給予支持，她正以多種方式繼續跑這場馬拉松。

希伯來書12章呼籲信徒在奔跑前面的路程時要「存心忍耐」（1節），艾拉的一番話讓我對此有更深的體會。這個呼籲對應了第11章中對諸多信心偉人的生動描繪。「這許多的見證人，如同雲彩圍著我們」（12章1節），以勇敢、堅定的信心生活，甚至必須冒著生命危險（11章33-38節）。儘管這些見證人對上帝的應許只是「從遠處望見，且歡喜迎接」（13節），但他們是為永恆的事物而活，為永遠不滅的盼望而活。

所有相信耶穌的人都應當以這樣的方式生活，因為上帝國度的繁榮與平安，值得我們為此付出一切，而且支撐我們的是基督的榜樣和力量（12章2-3節）。

It was impossible not to tear up at my friend Ira’s status update. Posted in 2022 only days after she’d left her home in Kyiv, the besieged capital of Ukraine, she shared a past image of herself lifting her country’s flag after completing a running event. She wrote, “We are all running to the best of our abilities a marathon called life. Let’s run it these days even better than that. With something that never dies in our hearts.” In the following days, I saw the many ways my friend continued to run that race, as she kept us updated on how to pray for and support those suffering in her country.

Ira’s words brought new depth to the call in Hebrews 12 for believers to “run with perseverance” (v. 1). That call follows chapter 11’s moving account of the heroes of faith, the “great cloud of witnesses” (12:1) who’d lived with courageous, persistent faith—even at risk to their lives (11:33–38). Even though they “only saw . . . and welcomed [God’s promises] from a distance” (v. 13), they were living for something eternal, for something that never dies.

All believers in Jesus are called to live that same way because the shalom—the flourishing and peace—of God’s kingdom is worth giving our all for. Christ’s example and power is what sustains us (12:2–3).