By Tanya Jolliffe
In junior high and high school, I participated in track and field. It was the first sport I truly loved, especially flipping over a high jump bar backward.
God blessed me with skill and a willingness to work hard, which brought recognition and awards. I obtained many records and medals over the years, participated in the Ohio State Track and Field meet all four years of high school, and left four school records behind at graduation.
The competitions, including those at the state meet, are beautiful memories. Like happens with records many times, they have all been broken by someone else. Some after a few years and some after four decades, but in the end, all have faded away.
Every person I ran and jumped against had trained, but only some people won the prize of first place. But those medals fade and become tarnished, and the records are eventually broken. Those victories are fleeting. We are called to a much more important race with a much more important prize that will last for eternity.
In 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 NIV, we are taught about the importance of self-discipline. “Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get one that will last forever.”
In 2 Timothy 4:7-8, we learn more about the crown that will last forever. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” The olive branch wreath withers and dies, but the crown of righteousness is the ultimate prize that lasts forever and isn’t just given to one person.
We are running a race for a prize that cannot fade as described in 1 Peter 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.”
The process of sanctification is our race or the process of working out our salvation, as taught in Philippians 2:12-13 NIV. “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act to fulfill his good purpose.”
Are we all-in as we seek to know and love Jesus more? Are we giving it our all and training for success as runners preparing for a race? Are we running the race to win or simply going through the motions, half-hearted or lukewarm? In the race but not with any desire or preparation to win?
We are warned in Revelation 3:15-16 NIV about the risks of being lukewarm. “ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
Revelation 3:2-3 NIV provides us with an important warning regarding our race. “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”
Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV teaches us how to train for this important race. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Dear sister, you are on the path. Press on and be all in, training as if this is the most important race of your life, because it is.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14 NIV).
Looking for a way to connect with God daily? Check out our daily devotional books: Living in Truth Day by Day *** Living in Truth Mind, Body, Spirit ***
