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Are you a good runner? I’ve never gotten into running for exercise. But there’s one race I want to win, and that’s the race that God has set out for me. As believers we’re all in a race, and as we saw yesterday from 1 Corinthians 9, we should be in that race to win.
Hebrews 12:1-2 gives us some further good information about running our 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. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The good news is that we each have our own race to run; we’re not competing with each other. We are told to run with perseverance the race marked out for us. God has a race planned for me and it’s different from the one he has planned for you. But it is marked out; and each of us has one. So, I don’t have to run your race, and you don’t have to run mine. But each of us needs to know the race marked out for us, and then run it to win.
Do you know what race God has marked out for you? He’s not trying to hide it from you; it’s there. But first you’ve got to get on the running field and start moving. You won’t find the race marked out for you sitting on the sidelines. Maybe you’ve been trying to run somebody else’s race—trying to be like someone else or wishing you could do what he or she does, instead of accepting the race God has for you. Every race is important; one is no more important than another. But it’s foolish to try to run someone else’s race. Run the race marked out for you.
And the writer to the Hebrews says to run it with perseverance. Marathon runners go through what they call “hitting the wall,” that place in the race where they feel as though they cannot possibly continue. Everything in them wants to quit, but they’ve learned through training and experience that if they’ll keep going, they can run through that wall, find their second breath and finish the race.
Have you hit the wall in your spiritual race lately? Ready to quit? It happens to all of us, but don’t give up! Run with perseverance the race set out for you. Keep running through the wall. Your faith is being tested, your endurance is being strengthened; God is working on your behalf, but you’ve got to run with perseverance.