Run the Race

I'm teaching this Sunday, and believe it or not, I've started reading the lesson. I'm a notorious procrastinator, but I have actually read the student book.

The scripture for the lesson is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and 10:1-13. The key verse is "Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it" (9:24)

I don't know who is teaching my own class (I'm teaching a different class than my own), but I hope it's Mike. This thing is full of sports metaphors -- right up his alley. Not right up my alley, although I have been to many track meets in the past year or so; a couple of illustrations do come to mind. One in particular is about our son, G, who broke his hand running track last year. S wrote about it in his Advent devotional, and you can read it here. The point that plays into this lesson is that after G (unknowingly) broke his hand, he got up and finished the race. My hero.

This year at track I was watching a young 6th grader run a distance race. He was not doing well -- actually, he never did well. In this particular race, he was running "neck and neck" for last. He was about 10 feet from the finish line (in a mile race), and he turned around, saw that the last place runner had found a last bit of speed, and was gaining on him. Rather than speed up, the young man slowed down in disappointment, and came in last.

Run the race in a way that you may win it.

Think about athletes. I don't know much about athletes, but I can make a few assumptions. First, they train. They practice. They exercise self-discipline. How can we do that as Christians? Study. Read. Pray. Serve. Just like the way to loose weight always boils down to watching what we eat and exercise -- what we really want is a magic pill -- spiritual discipline boils down to hard work. Unlike school, we never reach an age of graduation or completion. We have to keep running the race. We never get to stop serving or stop studying or stop praying or stop loving others.

So why does an athlete train? To do a better job running the race. To get closer to the goal (which in sports is usually winning the event). What happens when we practice our own spiritual disciplines? We getter closer to our goal. We get closer to God. We learn more about him. We experience his presence on a more frequent basis. We grow in the faith. Right?

If that is the case, then when the race gets more challenging, when it rains or when the track is muddy and slick (believe me, I've seen that), the athlete is more capable of competing if he is well trained.

Look at verse 13: No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

I like that. I like that God has provided us with a way to stand up under the tough times. He doesn't leave us alone to handle them ourselves. I have to think, though, that having done the work ahead of time -- the training -- the study, the prayer, the service -- that we are more capable of receiving the help from God. If the training, if the practice, if the self-discipline brings us closer to God, then we are -- well -- closer to God, and better able to receive the fruit of His promises.

Am I wrong? Is it too simplistic?

The class I am teaching is an older one, and what I WANT to say is that the race isn't over -- service and self-discipline don't end with older age. The truth is, though, that we ALL need to live our lives as if the end of the race is tomorrow or even tonight. What can I do TODAY to serve God, because I may not have tomorrow.

Oh, if this should be my last day here on earth
How then shall I live

And if tomorrows comes to find me
Looking in the face of Jesus
Will I hear Him say the words “well done”?

--Steven Curtis Chapman (Last Day on Earth)

I probably ought to find a teacher's manual tomorrow while I'm at church so that I'll KNOW what I should talk about, rather than not.

Image: Laidley Field in Charleston during a track meet last spring. Have I used this photo before? J and I climbed to the very tip top of the bleachers to take this one. The trip down was quite exciting as I tried to avoid it becoming fall rather than spring.