Run the Race

“Many have a good beginning. Few have a good ending.”

When all is said and done, it is not how good you look in the starting blocks. Instead, the deciding factor is whether you make it across the finish line.

If we want to finish the race:

1) Remember who is around us.

2) Remove what is on us.

3) Rely on what is in us, and...

4) Realize who is before us.

As we run the race, we are surrounded by a host of persons. We must remember who is around us. Our race is actually run in an invisible but real coliseum, and every seat in the coliseum is filled. Who are the people in the seats?

The author of Hebrews says to all current runners, “In order to finish the race, remember a great cloud of witnesses surrounds you.” There are persons in the coliseum seats who are invisible to the naked eye, but visible to the spiritual eye.

Those who surround us are witnesses, not just spectators. There is a profound difference between a spectator and a witness. A spectator is someone who watches you go through something. A witness, in the biblical sense, is someone who has gone through something themselves.

Witnesses are those who have been through trials and turmoil and have found out that the Lord will make a way somehow. We can finish the race; we can hold on; we can resist the temptation, if we remember who is around us cheering for us.

My grandparents, my Aunt Helen, my aunt Frances, my friend Bonnie and many more are witnesses. Surely, you have your list of witnesses who are cheering for you.

Yet, if we want to finish the race, we must not only remember who is around us, but we must also remove what is on us. “Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.” If we want to finish the race, we must remove the excess baggage that is on us.

We harbor attitudes and engage in behaviors that wrap around our feet, causing us to stumble rather than to sprint.

We need to remember who is around us, and remove what is on us, but we must also rely on what is in us. The text says that we have to run with perseverance the race that is set before us. In this race, when the road is rough, and the going gets tough, and the hills are hard to climb, we must tap into our spiritual resources.

In order to finish the race, we must remember who is around us, remove what is on us, and rely on what is in us. The fourth and final piece of advice is to realize who is before us.

Jesus himself realized the value of looking ahead. Jesus knew that there was one primary difference between a winner and loser. A loser focuses on what she is going through, but a winner focuses on where she is going to. During his ministry, Jesus kept his eyes on the prize, and God rewarded that faithfulness with a resurrection victory.

Having won his race, Jesus stands at the finish line cheering for us. More than that, Jesus wants us to affix our eyes on him.

We can and will finish the race if we look to Jesus. Jesus has gone before us and waits for us at the finish line.

Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.