The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo are in full swing (albeit in 2021). The marathon is scheduled for tomorrow and in this race the phrase “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon” does not apply. These elite men and women will run 26.2 miles in a little over two hours. That’s a non-stop, 13 mile-per-hour sprint for two hours!
The race is so competitive that in 2016 the difference between the gold medal and 50th place was a matter of ten seconds. As a result, the competitors take great pains to eliminate any possible impediment (e.g., shoe selection, clothing material, shaving legs, etc.). Recording thousands of miles on a track and submitting to a rigorously restrictive diet is a waste if the runner’s performance is unnecessarily stunted by external restraints.
Likewise, the Bible compares the Christian’s life to an endurance race with a watching crowd. And equally similar, we need to go to great lengths to reduce any obstruction from that race.
Hebrews 12:1–3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
We are urged to rid ourselves of anything that might slow our pace. Like an overladen ship, we need to jettison the cargo that is causing a drag. What that looks like for each person is different, as each one of us has a “race that is set before us.” We must evaluate our individual race, identify the weights and then cut them loose! Look to the example of Christ who endured more than any of us. His example reminds us that the criticism we experience when we distance ourselves from the things the world values is totally worth it. The One that is seated at the right hand of God had nothing but contempt for the world’s contempt! Can you imagine an Olympic marathoner choosing to wear heavier shoes because others think they would be more fashionable? It’s nonsensical. Likewise the Christian need not worry about the opinionated unbelievers we’re sprinting past.
As you increase your speed by offloading those burdens, keep your eyes on the prize. No, you’re not perfect, and yes you have a past littered with failures, but neither of those factors should keep you from charging forward in the race God has set before you. Your job is to stop focusing on current disappointments, disregard past failures and sprint toward Christ! That’s what the mature believer does.
Philippians 3:12–16
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Today you need to humbly ask God to forgive you for not currently being the child that you should be, and you should repent of the sins of the past and then get over it. Take your eyes off the past, examine the race He has put right in front of you, cut the weight that is dragging you down and get to running toward the prize. If your desire is to be mature in the faith, think this way and hold to the truth that there is an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison at the end of the race!