Finishing the Race

Sometimes when my husband speaks at church he says something that makes me think to myself, “That’s a LightThought topic!” Sometimes it may be one little phrase that strikes my ‘funny bone’ and makes me snicker, sometimes it may be a word study that makes me think, “That’s cool!”, and sometimes it may be a concept that just leaves me saying, “Wow”-(which seems to be my word for totally awed by God!).  Today I am going to share a couple of ‘cool’ thoughts from Hebrews 12:1-2.

I have gone back and researched this word on my own-you know-so I can say I have done my own research and not just plagiarize my husband’s work!

I’m going to personalize this for all of you runners out there (notice I said YOU and not US!).

Hebrews 12:1 starts out with the basics for runners~You dress in such a way as to not be entangled and impeded by coats, boots, heavy backpacks, etc.

As many times as I have heard devotions and sermons from this passage, I have never noticed the impact of the very last phrase~the race that is set before us.  In life we don’t get to choose 'the track' on which we want to run! When you set out to be a runner, you can decide which track or which race in which you wish to participate-the hilly one, the REAL hilly one, the flat one, the concrete one, the nature trail,... you can choose which distance-the 3K, the 5K, the mile, the marathon…and, you can choose when you wish to run the race…cold weather race, summertime race, morning race, evening race…it’s all up to you. But here it states that our life race is already set before us~~We don’t get to choose the conditions or the time!  

So how in the world does one prepare for such a race?  What if I were entered into a marathon through the hilly streets of San Francisco (without a race map) that was scheduled to take place at 2PM in the middle of August? Impossible right? 

But sometimes we are placed into life races that seem to create the same sort of odds~How can I do this?

Thus, verse 2~~Looking unto Jesus…(Remember, Philippians 4:13 states, "I can do (endure) all things through Christ who strengthens me".) 

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…. As mentioned earlier, I (and I am sure, you as well) have heard many lessons, devotions, and sermons on this passage which have pointed out (and rightly so) that because Jesus is the author and finisher of our salvation we can endure the race. But, let’s take this down to our day to day faith…

This is the ‘cool’ part. The word author can also be translated ‘pioneer’ or ‘trailblazer’.  Jesus has already run your race~He blazed the trail. And, He finishes it for us-or maybe I should say He finishes it WITH us! He has blazed the trail for us AND He has our back, so to speak, to make sure we finish.

This reminds me of an event that took place the very first year we took a group of college students to Costa Rica for a missions’ trip. On one of our sightseeing adventures we walked a LONG way on a very hilly nature trail. Beautiful as it was, I was beginning to wonder if I would make it! As I neared  the bridge to the gift shop/concession building (yes, I was at the tail end!), I noticed one of our sweet young college students waiting on the bridge. As I approached, he said, “Momma Debbie, I waited for you so you wouldn’t be the last to cross-and he held my arm as we walked across the bridge and into the air conditioned gift shop! That was about 8 years ago and still stands out as such a precious memory of that trip! (Yep, I just shed tears as I was writing this!)

That is the role Jesus wants to play as we walk or run through our life races! He created the trail just for us and is waiting at the finish line to help us across.

Look unto Jesus~the pioneer trailblazer of YOUR life race who is waiting at the bridge to help you cross the finish line…

Run with Endurance~~

Debbie