"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1c).
Think of it like this. On the one hand there is someone running a race, and along the side lines there are stands with water all the way from start to finish. The track is clear, and the road is straight. Their are no hills and no bends; just a straight track to victory. This is the man running the race in a not-so-immoral society.
On the other hand, you are running a race, and along the side lines there are stands with soda and juice from start to finish. There might be an occasional water stand every few miles. The track is extremely long, and there are many bends, turns, hills, and hurdles (the hurdles are the other runners who sat down because they decided not to run). This is the man running in the immoral society.
To further complicate this example, the man running also has his own issues to deal with, right? He has to eat healthy, he has to lose as much weight as needed, he has to wear a tight suit and good running shoes, and he has to train long and hard so that his endurance is strong.
Now that we have set all this up, you have to remove the first runner from your thinking. There is never going to be a race that perfect in this life. All our races will be like the second guy in the perverse and immoral culture. We will always have to persevere. We will always have a long and twisted road. The race will never be as easy as we would like it to be.
The Scriptures tell us to run with endurance the race marked out for us. Our race will always be tough. But what if you could do everything you could do to make that race easier? Would you do what it takes? Paul did:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).We are all runners in a race and, therefore, we must run with endurance and self-control as if we were actually trying to win.
Why self-control? Because we also have to deal with our part in the race. We must eat right, sleep right, train right, and never cease until we are all that we can be in that race. Our race just happens to be this life. So as Christians, our race is a continual battle against the conditions and against ourselves.
And yet, for some of us, we have been slacking. In fact, many Christians have quit. They got in the race because they liked the prize, but then they sat down on the track. They stopped eating healthy, they started drinking the soda on the side, they kept their sweatsuit on, they didn't bring running shoes, they didn't bring a desire to win, and instead they sat down on track and became the hurdles for many others. What a sad sight that is, right? And yet that is a wonderful analogy for many of the so-called Christians in evangelicalism.
So, over the next few days we will look closer at Hebrews 12:1-4, what things might hinder our running, how to root out the things that do hinder us, and some practical ways to run with endurance the race that is set before us. Stick around!
