Running the Race

Every day is a brand new start with the Lord, but some days act as milestones and special markers in our journey. New Year's Day is one of those days, and so it's with great anticipation that my family and I greet 2006. We know that just as Jesus is the "Lord of Today", he is also the "Lord of This Year."

Yesterday, Pak Ting Wong, a dear friend and brother from ECC, emailed me and shared some thoughts from Hebrews 12. I read the chapter, and there were a number of verses which impacted me and have set the pace for this new year. Let me share them with you.

In Hebrews 11, the writer has just listed a great litany of "heroes of faith" - an impressive "hall of fame" - "faith veterans" whose faith we are now called to emulate. Now, in Hebrews 12:1, he personalises all of this and writes:

"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."

You may remember that I encourage people to further personalise a scripture passage by substituting their own name for more general personal pronouns. So, for myself, a paraphrase of Hebrews 12:1 would run like this:

"Therefore, since David is surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let David throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let David run with perseverance the race marked out for David."

I encourage you to do the same, this time substituting your own name in the place of mine.

When I was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer (can you believe it, it was only two weeks ago! - see "The News"), I went before the Lord and asked him, "Is this my time, Lord? Do you want to take me now, or do you still have work for me to do?" (see "Torn Between the Two"). Here is a quote from that post:

"The answer I believe I got from the Lord...is that this is not my time to go. In 2 Timothy 4:6-8, Paul, at the end of his life, wrote: "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."But as I talked with the Lord, I felt that I have not yet come to the point where I can say "I have finished the race." In other words, I believe there are still a few more laps for me to run."

It is one thing to believe that I have not yet finished the race; it is another thing to continue running that race. And this is what Hebrews 12:1 is encouraging me to do. The Message paraphrases that verse in this way:

"Do you see what this means - all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running - and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins."

The pioneers who blazed the way have been listed in Hebrews 11 - Enoch, Noah, Moses, Abraham, David and many others. They are now the veterans who are cheering us on "from the grandstands of heaven" as J B Philips' translation of this verse puts it. The picture is of one vast relay race, spanning the centuries. Each veteran took his turn in his day, running his lap of faith. At the end of his lap, he passed the baton to the next generation. Generation after generation has run their lap, and now it is your turn - and mine - in the arena of faith. And, according to Hebrews 12:1, all these past heroes are now watching on, cheering us on, as we run our lap. For as The Message puts Hebrews 11:40, God's plan was "that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours."

So what am I now required to do? The challenge is clear. Run! Run with all my might! Run with perseverance the race marked out for me! As 1 Corinthians 9:24 explains:

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."

What is this prize? In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul uses similar terminology when he writes:

"...I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

From the context it is clear that "the prize" Paul is referring to is not salvation (he refers to salvation as "a gift" - see Romans 6:23). If we look back a few verses, though, Philippians 3:10 provides us with an understanding of what the prize Paul longed for really is:

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death..."

This, I believe, is the prize. It is the final realisation of everything God has given as a gift (i.e. the salvation that comes through Christ) fully outworked in our lives (note Philippians 2:12-13). It is knowing Christ to the full extent, knowing the power of his resurrection working fully in our lives, experiencing the deepest possible fellowship with him, which extends to "the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings." The full glory that comes from this depth of experience is the prize, and in 1 Corinthians 9:25-26, Paul goes on to amplify what it means to "run in such a way as to get the prize":

"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..."

In a similar vein, when Paul is at the end of his life, knowing that that he has "finished the race" (2 Timothy 4:7), instructs Timothy to do the same in 2 Timothy 2:5:

"...if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules."

There are rules to every athletic competition, and no less so for the spiritual race which we are called to run. What are these rules? This is what Hebrews 12:1 is telling us. As the Amplified Bible translates it:

"...let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us..."

The rules are simple:

1. Rid yourself of all "unnecessary weights"
2. Deal decisively with sin
3. Run with "patient endurance and steady and active persistence"

In Hebrews 12:2 we find the key to running the race. As The Message puts it:

"Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed - that exhilarating finish in and with God - he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God."

What is particularly interesting is the Amplified Bible's translation of Hebrews 12:2:

"Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

I believe that the prize Jesus ran for (the "joy set before him") is the same as the prize I am now also running to win - the fullness of God's purpose outworked in and through my life!

It was because he had his eyes set fully on the prize that Jesus "endured the cross, scorning its shame." And now I am called to do the same! This is why Jesus said, in Luke 9:23:

"...If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

This is also why Hebrews 12:3 (Amplified Bible) tells us:

"Just think of [Jesus] Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds."

The new year presents all of us with the same Hebrews 12:1-3 challenge, but in the light of my medical diagnosis, even more so for me. If indeed the Lord still has a race for me to run, as I believe he does, I must run it with "patient endurance and steady and active persistence." My current trial is nothing compared to what the Lord Jesus endured, and his enduring grace is now available also for me.