The Race Is On
What enables us to run our race in a single-minded way?
As a freshman in college baseball, I was a standout hitter. That meant the Varsity coaches knew me—both my strengths and my weaknesses. Having had two knee surgeries by age 16, I was slow. Thus, I was not surprised when the coaches played a joke on me my sophomore year.
The whole team was lined up to be timed in a 30-yard dash. Most good players run it in 3.7 to a little over 4 seconds. Elite players run it in 3.5 – 3.55 seconds.
As I reached the starting line, a coach, with a huge smile on his face, put his stopwatch away and whipped a calendar out of his back pocket, yelling, “Come on, Hunter, you’re up!”
Later that year, when the head coach told me I was not likely to ever get drafted, I asked, “Why—what have the scouts said?” He took out a stopwatch from his yellow and green jacket, held it up, and clicked it a few times.
‘Nuf said.
Fortunately, in the months before this disheartening moment, I had become a Christian. When I told my coach about my calling to follow Jesus and enter the ministry, he, being a sincere Greek Orthodox man, encouraged me that the Christian life was my race to run.
Running the Race
Sure enough, I discovered that running the race was a significant analogy illuminating the disciplined persistence required of disciples.
Paul wrote:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
1 Corinthians 9:24-25
Strict training to run a race can sound like “works-based righteousness.” That is a common confusion about life in Christ. Of course, unmerited grace is rightly valued. But God’s grace does not set us aside, as if how we run our race doesn’t matter. Grace has to do with more than forgiveness. God’s grace is his action in our lives enabling us to run our race in a single-minded way, a way that subordinates all other aspects of life to gaining the prize. ‘
Grace is the Divine fuel we burn in strict training as we run.
Along this line of thought, Peter prayed this blessing:
The God of all grace…make you strong, firm and steadfast.
1 Peter 5:10
Training in Righteousness
Paul expands on this idea in his second letter to Timothy. Using scripture study as a classic Christian workout, Paul writes:
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Tim 3:16-17
The vision in this passage is the lifelong, active process of gaining a biblical worldview, of being shaped by the teachings of scripture.
The writer of Hebrews also stands in the Pauline tradition of running the race:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Hebrews 12:1
I love the video of veteran runner Dr. Chandler Self being helped to finish a marathon by a high school athlete named Ariana Luterman. Just steps from the finish line, despite super-human effort, Dr. Self bonked, as runners say. Her muscles quit functioning. She could go no further. That’s when Ariana stepped in to help her cross the finish line.
I’ve been running the Christian race for 50 years. I’ve certainly felt spiritually and emotionally bonked. In fact, as I neared my retirement as a Bishop, I found myself completely exhausted. So as a small discipline, I carried a medallion in my pocket. One side read: “Finish Strong.” The opposite read: “Fight the good fight…finish the race…keep the faith.” Each morning as I slipped it into my pocket, I felt a little empowerment from the Spirit, helping me get to the vocational finish line.
Two ways to keep going when you feel like giving up:
Gain nourishment. When your muscles fail, you can’t simply try harder. You’ve got to get back to the disciplines of training. Dr. Self looked back and realized that she lacked recovery time from a previous race, sleep and nourishment (fuel).
Rely on God’s grace. The presence of God is our Ariana. His grace does for us that which we cannot do on our own.
Great word!! 👏👏👏