Crowd: Do as the Departed Did and Don’t Dispense Devastation

Egocentricity seems to be everyone’s favorite pet sin. Who could argue that it’s not a very blinding and self-deceiving one? As it impairs our sense of reason, it simultaneously causes us to forget that the sinful decisions we make in life impact everyone within our sphere of influence. Egocentricity also makes us self-absorbed to the point of ignoring the powerful examples of the Godly Christians who went before us.

When calling us to run with endurance the race that’s set before us, the author of Hebrews tells us to lay aside the weights and the sin that so easily ensnare us because we are surrounded by a great cloud (or crowd) of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1). These are the saints from the great Hall of Faith who are described in Hebrews 11. These are the ones who reveled in triumphant victories and who persevered amid great trials of suffering. But all of them—despite their particular set of circumstances—were commended because of their faith (vv. 1–2). We see certain believers still living who are examples to us.

By the same token, we recognize the massive impact that our decisions have on others. Can you imagine the devastation and confusion experienced by those who know someone who speaks a lot about God yet is living in secret sexual sin the whole time?

We can never forget the crowd of precious souls all around us—the ones we should seek to guard against devastation by living in sexual purity and the ones for whom we should, in turn, leave a stellar example to follow. This will then lead us to evaluate the way we think, the places we go, the things we watch and listen to and participate in.

We each have to decide whether we’re willing to overhaul our lives and deal a death blow to the egocentricity that causes us to satisfy the interests and well-being of no one but ourselves.

When pursuing sexual purity, it is important to meditate on the Crowd of Witnesses who left us a powerful model to follow and to fixate on the faces of our wife, children, parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, employers, employees, coworkers, mentors, mentees, friends, and others. We cry out to ourselves with determination, Crowd: do as the departed did and don’t dispense devastation.

Dear Lord, help me walk in the footsteps of Your faithful followers and set a Godly example for those around me.