This Saturday devotion focuses on a New Testament epistle – a passage, a verse or phrase, perhaps a single word. We pray that it is a blessing to you.
Heb. 11:17-12:3
v12:1 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.
Dear teammate,
I ran track for one spring in high school, with a sprinter’s mind in a distance body, little natural ability, poor technique, and a case of what turned out to be walking pneumonia.
Yeah, fun season.
Those middle-distance qualifying races were good preparation for my Christian race, though. I knew my times. I knew my odds of making the finals. I also knew what I should do: Run my best.
God’s goal for his disciples is simple: “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” In track terms, that’s like setting a qualifying time of 0 seconds flat. Well, I know that I’m not going to run that. So what can I do? I can do my best.
The writer of Hebrews tells us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us.” No points are assigned to places in this race. There’s no world record to chase. We are just encouraged: Run with endurance. Run your best.
Paul also used this race metaphor in letters to the church in Corinth and to Timothy. I think one reason it works so well is that track is where “PR,” as in setting a “personal record,” is a verb. “How’d you do?” “Fourth, but I PR’d.” Runners are competing against other individuals, yes, but also with themselves, to do the best they can, and better than before.
If you have the talent to win the Olympics, win the Olympics. If you have the talent to finish last but one second faster, finish last one second faster. God asks the same of his disciples: Use what you have. Run your best.
The Christian race is also a relay. This passage of Hebrews lists faithful forebears who have handed us the baton. And we run toward the finish line “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”
If success in our race depended upon us, we’d have the same sense of futility that I had when the gun went off. But Jesus ran the perfect time and assured us of the team trophy. We should still run our best. We’re running not for ourselves, but for our Coach, our teammates and everyone else that our Coach is recruiting to his team.
We don’t need to worry about where we finish. We’ve already won.
From atop the podium,
Paul
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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