Does it matter how we run the race?

About October last year I had a chance to sign up to run a race for a good cause. There are a lot of races for a lot of good causes that I don't sign up for, but I was particularly motivated for this race which was supposed to take place in March; and as with most people I procrastinated the training portion of the actual race part until January. It was just a 10K right no big deal.
As I hit the gym in January I remembered why I wasn't a distance runner in high school. However, like most motivated people the process begins to change you. What started as a miserable sound at 4:30 telling me to get up and get to the gym, started to become a way of life. I started seeing results, I lost 30 lbs., I was lifting my body weight again in the gym and feeling better about myself.
The March race was quickly approaching and my stamina and endurance were increasing and I was starting to get a little nervous too. 3 Weeks prior to race day I grabbed a good friend who was a real runner, and I said, "Push me, don't let me quit." After 1 hour and 5.1 miles we wrapped up that day, and surprisingly I was still alive. I was tired, yes, and sore, yes, but alive. I continued training leading up to the event.

The Big Day

Here it was race day, and there was quite a crowd. People from everywhere, some I knew and some I didn't. Some I trained with and some who had obviously been training a long time for this. I was mentally prepared, physically could have been better but getting to the end wasn't my goal, fulfilling the  goals I had set before me were what was motivating me that day. As the crowds starting moving and we crossed that starting line, I knew I would finish, there was too much energy around me, too much fight within me to stop me at this point, as I surged past the walkers, and the talkers I attempted set the pace I planned and worked toward. Mile 1 check, things were going well, a little faster than I planned but that happens with the excitement and the crowds around you. Mile 2, check, brought about the pace that I had worked for. Mile 3 getting into a rhythm, controlling my breathing, and then bam something happened, something unexpected. Pain shooting through my right hip and down the side of right leg. I stopped and walked and started again and again and again. To no avail, I couldn't run it out. I had to walk the remaining 3.2 miles. 

So What!? 

After the Race I was so upset with myself, my body, and several other mistakes I made leading up to that day. However, person after person continued to say to me, "At least you finished". Those words were haunting me. Over and over they ran through me. As if all that I had done was for nothing just crossing the finish line was all that counted, not what happened from the beginning to the end. 


Sometimes, I see this thought process correlating across the board in our Christian walk and that's what prompted me to write this. At times Christianity is consumed and content with just getting across the finish line. The Bible says clearly after trusting in Jesus Christ as a personal savior you are "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered" (John 3:36; John 5:24; John 10:27-30; Rom. 8:35-39; Heb. 10:39; 1 Peter 1:5). Once you start the race, you will finish because it's not dependent upon you the blood, sweat and tears belong to Jesus for that....

But the Bible also tells us there is some importance in how we run. Hebrews 12:1b-2a "let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith"How we run makes a difference, with endurance, having trained and prepared everyday for the struggles in life which will make us pull up and walk. Always keeping an eye at the finish line where Jesus stands as the "founder and perfecter of our faith". 
 One of my favorite visual images in all of the Bible is one given in Revelation that tells us, when all is said and done all the crowns that we earned on this earth, not in order to get there but as a result of how we ran the race, are given so that we might fall at the feet of Jesus and turned them over to Him, who is worthy of all the honor, glory and praise. 

So, Does it matter how we run the race? If you know Jesus, you are already guaranteed a spot at the finish line, but part of how I run that race determines how honored and glorified HE will be at the end. Makes a difference how we approach each day if thats true. Consider this as you approach your race each day.


God Bless, 

Grant A. Murray
Pastor of Family Ministries
Faith Baptist Church
gmurray@faithnlr.org
faithnlr.org