The race you cannot afford to lose
The race you cannot afford to lose: The race of life is the most important you will ever take part in
As a young boy, I took part in middle distance running on the track, cross-country, and road races. I was not what you would call and exceptional athlete, at least not in the same league as my younger brother. My father was only interested in top results. My brother won many races. I was the “also-ran” according to my father. He would say: "Oh, yes, he also ran, but did not end in the top whatever." Once I was older and not under his influence anymore, my results started to improve. I reached the goal I had set for myself and was satisfied that I did the best I could.
A few years later my heavenly Father got hold of me and prepared me for a new race. He said to me: "You are a winner!" First, He had to get me to forget about a normal race. An injury resulting in surgery put an end to my athletics career. God was ready to enter me in another race, the race of life. Paul describes this beautifully to the church in Corinth:
24Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
He says we need to run the race of life in a way that will allow us to win the prize – eternal life. He does not run aimlessly but runs as someone who has a goal in mind, someone who can see the goal in the distance. Yet at the same time he keeps to the rules and subjects his body to them. Should he not do this, he may lose. As a new believer, I had to run a different race and there were new rules I had to follow.
To his protégé Timothy he writes:
6For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. – 2 Timothy 4:6-8
At the end of his life, Paul knew without a doubt that he had done everything he was tasked to do – he had completed the race and fought the fight according to the rules. Paul never gave up. For him there was only one thing important: to complete the race of life and meet his Saviour.
There is another element about the race of life that we should not forget. In a previous article I mentioned running a race where I was in the lead, then looked behind me for a moment, and instantly went from first to fourth. The Word gives us a wonderful, but concise, example of how to run the race:
32Remember Lot's wife. – Luke 27:32
This is Jesus’ warning to us, based on actual history. What happened to Lot’s wife?
26But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. – Genesis 19:26
She looked back after she was warned not to (Genesis 19:17). She was already out of the city that was about to be destroyed, on her way to safety, but she looked back. She looked back, longing for what she had, instead of looking forward to where her safety would be found. The Bible does not mention her name, only that she was “Lot’s wife”. This has been her reputation ever since (See our previous lesson about reputations). She was so close to being saved, and yet she did not make it. You could be in sight of the winning line, but falter, fall, and lose. Paul again mentions how we should run to succeed:
1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking 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. – Hebrews 12:1-2
Because of those around us who are witnesses to our lives, we should run with patience, and with that, according to the rules. Our focus should be Jesus, who directs our lives (He is the author of our faith.) and is the end of our faith (He is the finisher of our faith.). We should follow the example He set. He knew what was going to happen to Him, yet because of the joy of knowing He would overcome the world (John 16:33) that would allow people to be saved, He accepted pain and shame so that He too, could win a prize – to be seated at the right hand of God the Father. We should run the race with the same mindset. We are not guaranteed an easy run and will have to accept the pain that comes with endurance.
We may be running different races during our lives. I am quickly getting to the end of a race that has been run over the past 11 years. The day that I am at the office for the last time, I am not going to look back when I leave. When I pass through the main gate for the last time, I am not going to look back. When I leave the home I have lived in for most of my time away from my own country, I am not going to look back. The same applies to the city. Once I depart from the airport and head south to my home country, I will not look back at what could have been but will remember the positives I can take out of my time here. I look forward to what God has in store for me on my return.
I am excited about what God has already planned for me for the next phase of my life. Many shorter earthly races have been run. My spiritual race towards eternal life, however, has taken place over the past 32 years or more and will continue until the day He fetches me to be with Him forever. I will run with a goal in mind and to obtain the prize. His name is Jesus:
14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:14
Conclusion
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to focus on the things that are eternal (Colossians 3:2) and complete the race so that you can win the ultimate prize, promoted from an also-ran to a winner.