Run Your Race!

I never planned to become a runner. One day I simply went out and started. When I came home that first day my mind was clearer and I felt better, so I did it a second day…and a third. One run at a time, I became a runner.

Running has become many things for me: a means to stay in shape, a stress reliever, and quiet time to think and pray. More than that, it has become a classroom. The physical world often mirrors spiritual realities, and the Lord has used the simple act of running to teach me lasting lessons about the Christian life.

The Apostle Paul – Running

The Apostle Paul spoke frequently of this parallel…

• “…that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).
• “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain…I therefore so run, not as uncertainly” (1 Corinthians 9:24, 26a).
• “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?” (Galatians 5:7).
• “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).
• And at the end of his race these parting words: “I have finished my course” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Paul was a runner. I am a runner. And so are you.

We may be terribly out of shape or off course! But every one of us has a race to run.  And we are the only ones who can run it.

Run YOUR Race

One day on my regular route I spotted another runner ahead. Like many, I made it my goal to pass them. I picked up the pace, determined that no one would stay in front of me. It was a mistake. By the time I caught them it was clear they were running a much faster pace. Still I pushed on. Out of breath and nearly spent, I “won”—only to realize I still had nearly two miles left to get home. It made for a long, miserable finish.

I learned a valuable lesson that day: run my race. Not someone else’s. Mine.

Hebrews 12:1 says it best: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

• The race is set before us. We do not choose it; the One who knows the end from the beginning chooses it. That is why the next verse immediately points us to “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). The direction is His. We simply follow His course.
• The race is set before us. You cannot make forward progress while always looking behind. Trying to stay ahead of someone else or remaining bothered by something long past is unhelpful. Move on. Get past your past.
• The race is set before us. It is personal. Every person runs his or her own race for Christ, not for the applause or comparison of others.

There is far too much comparison Christianity. Those who measure themselves by themselves are not wise (2 Corinthians 10:12). The only real competition is against our own opportunity and calling. The only strength for the race is the divine enabling that comes through grace, and that grace is given as we run the race set before us. Solomon learned that “the race is not to the swift” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Isaiah learned that only the Lord gives strength so that we may “run, and not be weary” (Isaiah 40:31).

There is much to learn from a good run. Get out and start today! Run YOUR race, the race “set before you.”

About Scott Pauley