I have a new theory of this race we are supposed to be running:
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.
Hebrews 12:1
I’ve always seen it as a sprint or at a stretch a marathon but I’ve came to the realisation that it is in fact neither. It is more an extreme cross country event – sometimes the terrain is flat and clear, sometimes there are rocky ups and downs, and sometimes the way disappears altogether and all you have to get through is passion, determination, a compass and a map that as long as we read it correctly keeps us travelling toward our goal. The thing with this type of event is it is hard, gruelling, sweaty work. I’ve no doubt that when people get to the finish line they are elated. The sense of triumph must be amazing.
To get to that point though requires determination, hard work, the ability to read the map and follow the compass properly and all of these things are capable of tripping us up.
These type of events are not the sort of thing one enters into lightly. First you need to decide if it’s the thing for you. As Christians that decisions is made for us the moment we choose Christ. Then we train.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.
They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a
crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man
running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating air.
1 Corinthians 9:25-26
Now for each of us the training section will be different. Some of us will be well prepared (fairly fit, to keep with the race analogy) the things in our lives have led us to the race well equipped, so our training time may be short before we jump headlong into the active call of God (the race). Others may be very unfit and require many hours in the gym and hitting the footpaths. We need to build up our spiritual strength and stamina. During this time we read the bible and anything else that helps us in our relationship with God. We pray, we learn to listen and we learn to persevere. It is during this time we learn to start trusting God. Then when we are ready to step out of our comfort zone, we are ready to step up to the start line for the race God has set aside specifically for us.
Just a quick word on comfort zones. We seem to be under the impression that the bible says God wants us to have everything we want and that everything will be fine, which we interpret to mean comfortable. I think God doesn’t always want us to be comfortable because if we are we are less likely to move, not forward or backwards. Comfort makes us complacent and it is very self oriented. When you are comfortable you tend to only do the things that don’t interfere with that comfort. Comfort zones are dangerous because when we spend all that time there it makes our faith lukewarm and the bible is very clear about lukewarm faith.
So because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about
to spit you out of my mouth.
Revelation 3:16
The sad thing is sometimes we never actually get into the race. We fool ourselves into thinking that the training is the race and as long as we do that we don’t need to actually get out into the wild and race.
The thing about the race is it is far messier than the training and it’s not that easy to pack up, go home and have a hot shower when you’ve had enough. Of course you can do that in the spiritual race, you can always just quit, but think about how much you could miss out on.
Is the satisfaction of knowing you strove to attain the best God set apart for you enough to keep you going? This is where passion and determination come into play. You know before you start that it’s going to be hard work but if you don’t have the right mental mindset you won’t be able to push through.
If you think the Christian walk is going to be a lovely afternoon stroll in the park then I’d have to say your faith isn’t the one I see in my Bible, it isn’t the path Christ modelled for us. Christ was driven out into the dessert and tempted, he was hated in his own town, he was hated and betrayed by the very people who were waiting for him, his tears were tainted with blood, he was beaten, rejected, feared and loved and I don’t think any of it was a pretty wander through the flower filled gardens. Yet that is somehow what we expect. Why? I think that is a question well worth asking ourselves.
It’s not like God expects us to enter the race without the things we need to reach the finish line. He provides us with everything we need to get through the training and the race. The Bible, like a map, gives us the lay of the land and lets us know what’s out there. The Holy Spirit, like a compass, can guide us in the right direction as long as we pay constant attention to it. Sure sometimes it’s possible to read the compass wrong or we discard it because we think we know better. This can cause us to get lost and when you lose your way the journey back can be twice as difficult, fortunately for us that doesn’t put us out of the race, but it can cause us to loose time and our position.
Ultimately though the path we take is the one we choose. Sure things happen to us that we don’t choose but if you enter an extreme cross-country event you go in knowing you won’t always know what is coming around the corner and the only way you can handle it is to deal with it and get on with the task at hand or quit. Entering the race means you know there will be challenges. Life is full of challenges but once you step foot onto the starting line for the race that is the Christian journey you should never fall into the trap that it is going to be a lovely afternoon walk around the block. It wasn’t for the early church and the first Christians so why would it be different for us?
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.
Hebrews 12:1
I’ve always seen it as a sprint or at a stretch a marathon but I’ve came to the realisation that it is in fact neither. It is more an extreme cross country event – sometimes the terrain is flat and clear, sometimes there are rocky ups and downs, and sometimes the way disappears altogether and all you have to get through is passion, determination, a compass and a map that as long as we read it correctly keeps us travelling toward our goal. The thing with this type of event is it is hard, gruelling, sweaty work. I’ve no doubt that when people get to the finish line they are elated. The sense of triumph must be amazing.
To get to that point though requires determination, hard work, the ability to read the map and follow the compass properly and all of these things are capable of tripping us up.
These type of events are not the sort of thing one enters into lightly. First you need to decide if it’s the thing for you. As Christians that decisions is made for us the moment we choose Christ. Then we train.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.
They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a
crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man
running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating air.
1 Corinthians 9:25-26
Now for each of us the training section will be different. Some of us will be well prepared (fairly fit, to keep with the race analogy) the things in our lives have led us to the race well equipped, so our training time may be short before we jump headlong into the active call of God (the race). Others may be very unfit and require many hours in the gym and hitting the footpaths. We need to build up our spiritual strength and stamina. During this time we read the bible and anything else that helps us in our relationship with God. We pray, we learn to listen and we learn to persevere. It is during this time we learn to start trusting God. Then when we are ready to step out of our comfort zone, we are ready to step up to the start line for the race God has set aside specifically for us.
Just a quick word on comfort zones. We seem to be under the impression that the bible says God wants us to have everything we want and that everything will be fine, which we interpret to mean comfortable. I think God doesn’t always want us to be comfortable because if we are we are less likely to move, not forward or backwards. Comfort makes us complacent and it is very self oriented. When you are comfortable you tend to only do the things that don’t interfere with that comfort. Comfort zones are dangerous because when we spend all that time there it makes our faith lukewarm and the bible is very clear about lukewarm faith.
So because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about
to spit you out of my mouth.
Revelation 3:16
The sad thing is sometimes we never actually get into the race. We fool ourselves into thinking that the training is the race and as long as we do that we don’t need to actually get out into the wild and race.
The thing about the race is it is far messier than the training and it’s not that easy to pack up, go home and have a hot shower when you’ve had enough. Of course you can do that in the spiritual race, you can always just quit, but think about how much you could miss out on.
Is the satisfaction of knowing you strove to attain the best God set apart for you enough to keep you going? This is where passion and determination come into play. You know before you start that it’s going to be hard work but if you don’t have the right mental mindset you won’t be able to push through.
If you think the Christian walk is going to be a lovely afternoon stroll in the park then I’d have to say your faith isn’t the one I see in my Bible, it isn’t the path Christ modelled for us. Christ was driven out into the dessert and tempted, he was hated in his own town, he was hated and betrayed by the very people who were waiting for him, his tears were tainted with blood, he was beaten, rejected, feared and loved and I don’t think any of it was a pretty wander through the flower filled gardens. Yet that is somehow what we expect. Why? I think that is a question well worth asking ourselves.
It’s not like God expects us to enter the race without the things we need to reach the finish line. He provides us with everything we need to get through the training and the race. The Bible, like a map, gives us the lay of the land and lets us know what’s out there. The Holy Spirit, like a compass, can guide us in the right direction as long as we pay constant attention to it. Sure sometimes it’s possible to read the compass wrong or we discard it because we think we know better. This can cause us to get lost and when you lose your way the journey back can be twice as difficult, fortunately for us that doesn’t put us out of the race, but it can cause us to loose time and our position.
Ultimately though the path we take is the one we choose. Sure things happen to us that we don’t choose but if you enter an extreme cross-country event you go in knowing you won’t always know what is coming around the corner and the only way you can handle it is to deal with it and get on with the task at hand or quit. Entering the race means you know there will be challenges. Life is full of challenges but once you step foot onto the starting line for the race that is the Christian journey you should never fall into the trap that it is going to be a lovely afternoon walk around the block. It wasn’t for the early church and the first Christians so why would it be different for us?
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