entangles our feet. And let us run with patient endurance
the race that lies before us,
012:002 simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus, our Prince Leader in the faith,
who will also award us the prize. He, for the sake of the joy
which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with
contempt upon its shame, and afterwards seated Himself--
where He still sits--at the right hand of the throne of God.
012:003 Therefore, if you would escape becoming weary and faint-hearted,
compare your own sufferings with those of Him who endured
such hostility directed against Him by sinners.
012:004 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted so as
to endanger your lives;
012:005 and you have quite forgotten the encouraging words which are
addressed to you as sons, and which say, "My son, do not
think lightly of the Lord's discipline, and do not faint
when He corrects you;
012:006 for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines: and He scourges
every son whom He acknowledges."
012:007 The sufferings that you are enduring are for your discipline.
God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom
his father does not discipline?
012:008 And if you are left without discipline, of which every true
son has had a share, that shows that you are bastards,
and not true sons.
012:009 Besides this, our earthly fathers used to discipline us and we
treated them with respect, and shall we not be still more
submissive to the Father of our spirits, and live?
012:010 It is true that they disciplined us for a few years according
as they thought fit; but He does it for our certain good,
in order that we may become sharers in His own holy character.