A friend and I ran our one and only marathon quite a few years back. So far back, in fact, I had a full head of hair then! You can see my buddy poking his head out over the right shoulder of the guy in front.
We ran with 3 goals in mind. We wanted to finish (1) without walking (2) under 4 hours (3). We had to train separately due to our busy schedules. Yet, every time we saw each other we’d ask, “How’d you do?” We trained the best we could when the big day arrived. You can see the smiles on our faces…but we were just starting!
Over the course of this “race,” he wanted to quit and the Lord used me to keep him going. Then he returned the favor. Our bodies hurt from the pounding of 26 miles 385 yards. Yet, we hung together until we crossed the finish line – 3 hours 58 minutes 39 and 43 respectively. We couldn’t have done it without each other.
Life is a marathon. Just as we had to choose to train, each person has to choose for themselves to “practice” the truths of God’s word to become like Jesus. Just as we set our goals, each person has to run the entire course, which means taking one step, making one decision, at a time. Just as marathon is completed in thousands of steps, we make thousands of decisions to become like Jesus, not just one. And I hate to admit it; life has its painful moments just like a marathon.
We can’t run the race for each other, but we can run it together. Life is tough, who is encouraging you to fight through the pain to keep running? Life has its challenges, who is challenging your “quit” thinking? If you want to cross the finish line with hands held high in victory you must choose to run the race with another believer. It’s your (plural) race to run together.
Set Fre“E” Noww“W”