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“...let us run with patience the race set before us,...”
By: Rev. Joostens

We seldom think of life in terms of a race that is to be run.  That, however, is the figure.  Scripture uses to describe and admonish us regarding Christian living!  Our life is a race to be run with perseverance (Heb. 12:1).  It takes us through hazardous territory and is depicted as a continuous struggle and fight (II Tim. 4:7).  In running we must not take our eye off the prize that awaits us at the end of the course (II Tim. 4:8).

The various aspects of the Scriptural figure of a race serve to impress upon us the character of the Christian life!  It is a strenuous contest as the Greek term for “race” (from which we get our word agony) illustrates.  Consider a moment the hindrances that impede us.  So often we become weighed down with and entangled in the sinful encumbrances of this world!  Anxiety, worry, fleshly distraction and uncertainty tend to obscure the end of the course and the prize set before us!  This so easily (Heb. 12 :1) happens!  The flesh so strong and our Arch Enemy searches out and seizes every opportunity to slow our pace.  Even as a runner knows how to keep his body fit and trim and be focused, so must the child of God - spiritually.

The Lord gives us the following facts to help us run: It is He Who sets the course before us, determining every hill, bend and obstacle!  For it is God Who leads us by His council afterward to take us to glory!  Secondly, as we fight the good fight of faith, it is our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith!  Let us bear in mind that He is our strength and His Spirit is the might of our endurance.  We cannot fail!  Consider our Lord, the writer to the Hebrews tells us (12:3), Who endured the contradiction of sinners lest we would become weary and faint in our minds!  His victory is ours!  Furthermore, let us lift up our spiritual eyes to see that the “grandstands” are filled with the encouraging shouts of those who have walked this pilgrim’s vale before us.  For we are...compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses...who have endured and arrived at heaven’s portals.  Yet without us, they cannot be made perfect (Heb. 11:39).  The course is difficult and strenuous; the prize of grace is certain and beyond compare.  Let us not be discouraged or weary, but faithful and prayerfully fervent in our endurance!