Let us run the race.
It is easy to get tired or discouraged or even depressed. Our minds and souls are bombarded from the media on how life "ought to be" and what our "rights should be." But life is rarely as we desire or even expect. Life instead comes crashing in with all kinds of problems, detours and hindrances. The greatest difficulty in life is probably the people with whom we interact on a regular basis. That may even include close friends and family. People are, simply put, irritating. We are, as a race, self-centered, irascible, and dull in our understanding. We try to communicate with each other and find that no one seems to understand us at all. The demands on our lives go on and on, seemingly without end. Heartache, pain, and problems multiply virtually overnight. Our best laid plans go by the wayside as the problems of life appear out of nowhere.
And yet, we are commanded as believers to "run the race." How is anyone supposed to do that? It’s hard enough to simply survive the moment. How in the world are we supposed to run the race? Who’s got the energy or the motivation?
Three things we need to do: (1) Fix our eyes on Jesus. Don’t look around at our problems, troubles, or circumstances. Don’t look to the future for hope or the past for comfort. Don’t cling to relationships, career successes, or even how many hits we get on social media. Rather, fix our eyes on Jesus, completely and unwaveringly. Look to Him and Him alone. Immerse ourselves in His Word, in His presence, in His love. No one and nothing else matters because no one else can take care of the problems we face except Him.
(2) Throw off the sin that so easily entangles. We need to clean up our lives and get rid of the filth. Get rid of the filthy language, the outrageous behavior, and the lusts of the flesh that we have convinced ourselves are some kind of comfort. We need to purify ourselves and focus on living righteous and holy lives. We need to learn how to use our life’s delete button to clean up our messes and become the Christians we were intended to be.
(3) Throw off everything (else) that hinders. There are things in our lives that aren’t sin but that still hinder us from persevering in the race. We need to aggressively throw those things off and focus on running the race set before us. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and on Him alone.
And even, in all this, it’s possible to grow weary and lose heart. In those situations, we are called to consider how Jesus persevered for us and to trust the Holy Spirit to strengthen us through the hardest times so that we will continue to run the race just as our Lord did.
© 2017 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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