Walking Thoughts

When a runner competes in a race, he must continue to run if he wants to finish.  That sounds simple enough, but the ramifications it has on our spiritual race are sometimes underestimated.  A runner is competing for the whole race. He doesn't just have to make it to the last 20 feet, he has to make it to the finish line, but not only there does he stop, he must run through it!

Any athlete on a competitive team will tell you that the fight to win isn't over until the last second has ticked off the clock.  Football players have to play hard all the way through the fourth quarter, baseball players have to make it through the ninth inning, soccer players must play through an unknown amount of injury time, as we just saw in college basketball, basketball players must play 100% all the way down through the last tick.

The opponents job is to keep you from getting to the end in victory.

In our walks with God, we have been given a numbered amount of days in which we run to glorify God in our lives.  Our race doesn't end at retirement.  Sadly for many it does, for that's what they have been living their entire lives for, a chair beside a lake where they can petrify themselves in self-absorption for the remainder of their days.  But as Christians, no, we have a much more glorious reward on the other side of the finish line of death - the Kingdom of God, an eternity with our Maker!  That is what we are running toward because Christ's blood has made it what we are running for.

Our mortal opponent Satan tries to keep us from victory by deceiving us.  All games end, all clocks tick a final second, all referees eventually blow the final whistle and one is either found a victor or a loser.  Everybody will get to the end of their lives, the finish line of death.  Everybody makes it there.  The question is where will you be found. Just like any competitive sport, life is more than just about making it to the end when it's over, it's about winning the game, to be called a victor! Those without an advocate to plead their case for their sins will receive their just punishment. Those found in Christ will be carried through by Him to God for He took our just punishment - all we have to do is get to the end to meet Him, and physical death is guaranteed.  How awesome is that?!? Our victory is guaranteed and we have a 1/1 chance of making it to the finish line... In Christ we never have to fear, accept, or entertain anything that Satan can and will use against us to discourage, destroy and defeat!!  What a glorious hope!!

With all these in perspective, if we read the book of 2 Chronicles, God gives us a glimpse into the lives of the Kings of Judah and their own life races.  We find that each king either did or did not glorify God during the heat of the race of life, and near the end, in the years of their retirement, when things became easy or when pressures subsided, they failed to honor God.  They did not play through the fourth quarter... 

I will suppose that if we examine our own lives in light of these kings, we would find many similarities in smaller time scales.  For example, the last semester of high school or college... the last few weeks of the semester before finals... the last few hours before 5 at work... and many more.  I know I do in my own life.

Let us be encouraged that our victory is not dependent on how we run the race, but in Whom we run the race - Jesus Christ and the grace of salvation purchased for us on the cross by His sacrifice.  But for this great grace, let us endeavor, together, to run each day to His glory!  Hand in hand and arm in arm, let us help each other when we are weak and struggling in sin to remember the victory of Jesus Christ over the flesh!  And so let us then give the maximum glory to Christ TODAY so that all may know and see the victory that lies for us TOMORROW at the finish line of death - HEAVEN!!! Let His grace, the work of the Holy Spirit in your life today, bring Him the glory this and every day!

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

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.
1 Corinthians 9:24 

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.
Hebrews 12:1

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
2 Peter 1:3

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16