Running the Race

When I was in high school I tried out for many sports. In my Freshman and Sophomore year I played football and basketball and at the end of my Sophomore year the football coach came to me and told me as kindly as he could not to try out for the football team because I was on the small side. At this time I was not happy with basketball either, the coach and I didn't see eye to eye on things like favoritism and my playing time(when I say playing time I mean lack of playing time....well I mean like it was non-existent). That spring I decided to give track a whirl. I mainly stayed with the field events at first, because I had no desire to run in circles. Then as the season progressed my coach needed a 400 meter hurdle runner so I tried it. After a couple of weeks I got pretty good at it. A few weeks later the distance coach got a hold of me and that was it my running career began. I then ran cross country and track my Junior and Senior year. I started to enjoy it because I was half way descent at it. It is because of that time in my life that I have always had a fondness for bible verses that talk about running. I could relate to the symbolism.

This week I am going to be teaching our of Hebrews 12:1-3, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

As I read this passage a couple of things stuck out to me having been a runner. The first was the part where the writer of Hebrews says "let us also lay aside every weight". The Greek word used here for lay aside every weight is the word for hook. The idea here is a hook that you would use to hang some objects by. In today's terms it might be a hanger that you use to hold your clothes, but this hanger would hold heavier things. The though that came to my mind was, "you've got be kidding me running with something attached to you? You could never run to your full potential that way". That is the writers point exactly. The message to us out of this is that we can not run the Christian race as long as we are weighted down by things like anxiety, fear of man, fear of death, fear of being made fun of or even something as simple as not repenting of your sins. You see in your race all these things weigh you down and your running will not be that effective. I can remember as a runner the clothes we would wear, I should say the lack of clothes we would wear, they were barely there because you did not want them to interfere with your running. Dear believer shed those things that may be weighing you down. Go to the Lord now in prayer and ask Him to help you shed those things.

The second thing that struck me was "and the sin that clings to you". The imagery here is fantastic! The Greek word here gives you the idea of something closely guarded, some sin that is constantly occurring in your life. When I read this I though of a friend of mine. This friend would work out with leg weights on. I practice he would never be towards the front of the pack because of the leg weights. Our coach would tell him that the leg weights worked out the wrong muscles and worked out the right muscles the wrong way. In essence he would never gain the speed he needed to be effective in a race. Sure enough when race day came, he was never towards the front because of his workout habits and his lack of listening to the coach. That is the idea here. The writer of Hebrews is telling you and I that we need to shed the sin in our lives that hinder our running the race. When we entertain sin and tell ourselves it's ok, that is hampering your ability to run the race. When we allow certain sins into our lives because they are fun, we hamper our ability to run he race. When we justify sin in our life because other so called believers do it, we hamper our ability to run the race. Dear believer shed that sin. Strip yourself down to only the necessary things to the race you are running.

Dear believer run the race to your best ability and don't be complacent with a walk. Run.....run as hard as you can and to the best of your ability striving for those around you to impacted by the manner in which you run.