Run

 (Click here for an audio version.  Music is from 'Run for the Prize' in vintage vinyl by Petra.)

In the last couple of sessions we have examined, primarily from the Psalms, the desire of the godly to be taught and to be changed.  The surrender of repentance is the crucial first step, and yet, the process is anything but passive.

What is next as we sharpen our focus on Jesus?

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."  

(2 Corinthians 3:18)

"… but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  (Philippians 3:13-14)

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Continuing from our last theme ‘Change Me’, it occurs to me that central to our transformation is our apprehension of Jesus – both our view of Him and the ensuing pursuit of Him.

For the Love of Running

I used to love to run.  Long distances.  I would say that I still do, but better put, I would love to run.  But I can’t.  Until an unfortunate skiing accident at the age of 24 where I crushed my left ACL, I was quite able to and enjoyed running.  It’s been a gradual decline from there where I physically cannot run.  It’s humbling.  It’s frustrating.  My children have never seen a father who could really keep up with them physically as a father is meant to.

 (me running ahead of my Dad at the Hamilton Standard Yucan 2 Race, 14 years old, circa 1977)

I dream about the joys of running in glory. 

For the Joy Set Before Us

But there is another – and eternally more important – type of running that I can do, that I must do.  It is a running towards glory, and it is infinitely more exhilarating – and I anticipate the prize more satisfying.  I find that my physical obstacles can – and must – focus my energies toward a superior race and a superior prize.

We began with:

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  (Hebrews 12:1-2)

But there are many other exhortations to run, among them (emphasis mine):

"I shall run the way of Your commandments,
For You will enlarge my heart."  

(Psalms 119:32)

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified."  (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, see also Galatians 2:2, Philippians 2:16)

"Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  (Philippians 3:12-14)

For the Prize Who is Our Strength

Where will we get the strength for this journey?  I see so many apparently abandon the race.  How will I endure?  I am reminded of this line from Rich Mullins’ ‘Sometimes By Step’:

And on this road to righteousness

Sometimes the climb can be so steep

I may falter in my steps

But never beyond Your reach

Or, as the Prophet Isaiah has put it,

"Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary."  

(Isaiah 40:28-31)

Notice, ‘to him who lacks might He increases power.’  Isaiah 41 continues with ‘the peoples gain new strength’ (Isaiah 41:1)

For the Ultimate Victory

What is your life?  Is it a rest, a walk, a stroll, a jog – or a run?  The Bible describes the life of the Christian as both a fight and a race.  Are you and I fighting, are you and I running – and are we committed to seeing it through to the end?

In the book Knowing God, J.I. Packer quotes theologian John Mackay in describing the following analogy:

‘…persons sitting on the high front balcony of a Spanish house watching travelers go by on the road below. The “balconeers” can overhear the travelers’ talk and chat with them; they may comment critically on the way that the travelers walk; or they may discuss questions about the road, how it can exist at all or lead anywhere, what might be seen from different points along it, and so forth; but they are onlookers, and their problems are theoretical only. The travelers, by contrast, face problems which, though they have their theoretical angle, are essentially practical-problems of the “which-way-to-go”  and “how-to-make-it” type, problems which call not merely for comprehension but for decision and action too.’

…Now this is a book for travelers.’

(Packer, J. I., Knowing God, pp. 7-8)

I have long been stirred by this quote by former President Teddy Roosevelt who, a year out of office, was traveling the world and made his way to Paris to give a speech at the Sorbonne to a venerable audience of dignitaries on April 23, 1910.  In it, he gave what has been called one of his greatest rhetorical triumphs:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

I think immediately of the ‘worthy cause’, and of Paul saying ‘They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable’.  (from 1 Corinthians 9:25).  How much more should we be determined to fight, to run!

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place."  

(2 Corinthians 2:14)

The way is God’s word, the strength His Spirit, and the prize His Son.

So: RUN!

In His Grip,

Mark Daniel Twombly