Hebrews 12 (NMV)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set before us,
2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won't grow weary and lose heart.
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
5 And you have forgotten the encouragement that speaks to you as sons: 'My son, do not take the Lord's discipline lightly or lose heart when you are corrected by Him,
6 for the Lord disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He receives."
7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?
8 But if you are without discipline, which all receive, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
9 Furthermore, we had human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shouldn't we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live?
10 They disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He does so for our benefit, so that we may share in His holiness.
11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Yet later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.
14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, without it, no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
16 Make sure there isn't any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for a single meal.
17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, even though he sought it with tears, because he could not change what had been done.
18 For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, to a blazing fire, darkness, gloom, and storm,
19 to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words, those who heard it begged that no further message be spoken to them.
20 For they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned."
21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."
22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless thousands of angels in joyful assembly,
23 to the assembly of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made complete,
24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we turn away from the One who warns from heaven?
26 At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised: "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."
27 The phrase "Yet once more" indicates the removal of what can be shaken, that is, created things, so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
29 For our God is a consuming fire.