In Hebrews 11 Paul sets forth a Hall of Fame of Faith. He lists many of the noble and great saints of antiquity. He lists their accomplishments through faith, and tells of the trials they endured through and because of that faith. He calls them "witnesses" of faith or more specifically, using the Greek word martus, he calls them martyrs. Paul calls us to join them. We are to put aside our worries and our sins and to run patiently the race set before us. And where do we get the strength to run this race? Hebrews 12:2-3 tells us Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
It is a beautiful passage. Jesus is listed as the all-time Grand Champion in the Hall of Faith. Paul calls upon us to emulate Him as our great example. Whenever we get down and discouraged we can remember how Christ overcame all that was thrown at Him. We see that our trials are not as great as His were. He becomes a source of strength in our run as we see that we can do it because he has shown us the way. He is the source of our faith. We can do it because He said that He will see us through to the end. He is the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Both translations are beautiful pictures. As the Author and Finisher of THE faith, Christ stands as the one who exemplifies and fulfills the gospel system. This is the gospel, the glad tidings, "That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; That through him all might be saved whom the Father had put into his power and made by him;" (D&C 76:41-42). Jesus Christ is the pioneer of the gospel system. He blazes the trail which we must follow. He is our Leader.
Jesus Christ as the Author and Finisher of OUR faith reminds us that the first picture we have of eternity, the first glimpse of our existence, is of the Heavenly Council where the Father set forth His plan and choose Christ as His Lamb. There is no revelation of anything before it. We can speculate, but God is silent. From that first scene we agreed to have faith in Christ; in His person, His mission and His work. We are to walk in all His ways all the days of our lives. The last scene we have revealed to us is the fulfillment of all His work, the final judgment, and the creation of all things new. We are to have faith in these things to come. From the beginning to the end we are called upon to make sure that we have faith in Christ. He is the beginning and the end of our known existence, the author and finisher of our faith.
Our sins and faults do so easily beset us. We can get down on ourselves and worry that we will never get it right and that we just can't do it. Life is hard, and our trials may seem unconquerable. But we don't have to do it alone. Christ is our friend. He is the one who helps us make it through and do what we can't seem to do on our own. We can do it through Him. He is the Perfecter of our faith. "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you" (Moroni 10:32). Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said "The gospel of Jesus Christ transcends mortality. Our work here is but a shadow of greater and unimaginable things to come." We have much to look forward to. Keep running.
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