When You Run You Are Bound To Experience Pain

I recently started running again.  It is hard and painful but I am seeing progress.

 It has been years but as I continue on the path I grow stronger each and every day and I become more confident that I will be able to persevere.

As I run I am thirsty.  I stop and partake of the water that is provided through a drinking fountain listening to the lyrics:

As the deer pants for flowing streams, 

so pants my soul for you, O God.  

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. 

When shall I come and appear before God?

I continue on my path with resolve and refreshed from the drink.  I know that God is with me.

Isn't our walk with the Lord like learning how to run all over again?

We feel like trail blazers however the worn path shows us that many have gone before us and they are cheering us on especially the Lord.

Hebrews 12:1-15 in the Message paraphrases it in just this way.

Do you see what this means-- 

all these pioneers who blazed the way, 

all these veterans cheering us on?  

It means we'd better get on with it.   

Strip down, start running--- and never quit!  

We gain strength from the knowledge that we are not in this alone but that others have faced the same difficulties even greater but have remained faithful.

Over the past 8 years of my hiatus from running, my body has accumulated fat and as I run it proves to be more cumbersome than before.  Sin weighs us down and keeps our eyes on our flesh but as we endeavor to run we must keep our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.

No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.  

Keep your eyes on Jesus, 

who both began and finished this race we're in.  

In order to run like Jesus we must look to his life as our example.  Even though Jesus is God he set aside His divinity while here on earth and was tempted in every way that we are tempted, so as we read the Word of God we gain insight in order to overcome sin, the flesh and the devil.

Study how he did it.  

Because he never lost sight of where he was headed-- 

that exhilarating finish in and with God -- 

he could put up with anything along the way: 

Cross, shame, whatever.  

And now he's there, in the place of honor, 
right alongside God.  

When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, 

go over the story again, item by item, 

that long litany of hostility he plowed through.  

That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

He is running right alongside us!  With that knowledge we can endure great difficulties in our lives and overcome great obstacles. It should put a spring in our step!

As we grope for Him He is glorified through our meager attempts to run the race that has  been set before us.  

He is not embarrassed or disappointed in us but His desire is for us to overcome because He has already finished the race for us!  

The message continues to paraphrase Hebrews 12:4

In this all-out match against sin, 

others have suffered far worse than you, 

to say nothing of what Jesus went through -- 

all that bloodshed!  

So don't feel sorry for yourselves.  

Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, 

and that God regards you as his children?

Just like long distance runners must train and push through great difficulties and experience much pain, so we as children of God are being trained through our difficult circumstances, strained relationships or physical illness.  

Its not fun because it is difficult and arduous to fight against our flesh and bring our bodies and minds into submission to the Word of God but it is necessary and the payoff is worth it!

Hebrews 12:12-13

So don't sit around on your hands!  

No more dragging your feet!  

Clear the path for long-distance runners 

so no one will trip and fall, 

so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle.  

Help each other out and run for it!

Work at getting along with each other and with God.  

Otherwise you'll never get so much as a glimpse of God.  

Make sure no one gets left out of God's generosity.  

We are indeed running a race and fighting a fight and it takes tenacity and humility to run with endurance but the good news is we are not running it alone.  In fact, we were never meant to run it alone!

Philippians 3:14

I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize which for God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.  

So include the community of God in your race and be generous in your love for one another, holding each other up and pointing to Jesus so that no one gets fixated on their own race without seeing the sea of people running with them, encouraging them onward and upward toward the high prize!

Jesus is standing at the finish line cheering us on, 

waiting to give us a crown!  

Father, I ask that You would give us the grace to run this race that You have set before us and that we would partake in the Word and the community of God to gain strength along the way.  

Lord help us to keep our eyes on Jesus and not ourselves or our circumstances but help us to see the struggle of others all around us and position us in Your sea of people to be an encouragement to those You ordained for us to be near. 

 Help us to see, through Your word, our great reward is eternal and He is waiting for us with open arms, ready to place a crown on our heads as we cross the finish line whether crawling or sprinting He is delighted that we have joined the race! 

 Give us an eternal perspective so that our minds do not get lost in the malaise of life but that we see clearly the celestial city!