Running the Race

Last month, I did the ‘10,000 steps a day for a month’ challenge to raise money for Cancer research. I started out full of energy and enthusiasm, but as the month ended, although the enthusiasm was still there I was getting tired and had to persevere a bit more. It put me in mind of Hebrews 12:1-2 and how our Christion walk is a marathon and not a sprint.

But help was at hand. I had a friend to walk with and remind me of my daily goal. Neither are we alone on our Christion walk. We are indeed ‘surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses’. In fact, it’s the reason we should ‘run with perseverance the race marked out for us’. As well as the great heroes of the faith, such as Paul and David, we do have each other.

As when my friend walked with me, we can run the race with each other. Running alongside someone is the perfect opportunity to disciple them and encourage them on to the goal of Jesus. To witness and encourage one another is to keep pointing them towards Jesus and to ‘run with perseverance the race marked out for us’.

But there is also perseverance required for the person running with them. To be able to disciple someone you need to be willing to be discipled yourself. If you’re going to run the bumpy course of life with someone (and life can sometimes be very bumpy), you both need to know where you’re going. You both need to know your goal is Jesus. No one must be perfect to help someone else, thank goodness, but we do need to be faithfully ‘running with perseverance the race marked out for us’. Jesus persevered for us to the point of death on the cross. We have to know that our goal is Jesus, and we’re steadily becoming more and more like Him.

Prayer: Father God, please give us the faith to persevere, for ourselves, and our brothers and sisters. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on You, and not on the bumps in the road. Lord give us the strength to daily walk the path You have for us. Amen.