Running requires perseverance

In middle school I used to run track.  I think that they were just looking for warm bodies to put in uniforms.  I wasn't fast enough for sprints.  I could not endure the long distance.  So I was the middle distance runner.  I could run one lap pretty good, not great but okay to finish in the top 5 for middle school students.  Today I run from my daughters when they want to have a tickle fight, to the table when I'm hungry, or in an emergency situation.

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 (NIV)

People are watching us.  As believers, people are watching every move we make to see if there is something different about us.  There are many witnesses, both believers and non-believers, who are spectating our lives.  Would they say that we are different from the world?  If they were to go around with us for a day would they be able to tell that we are Christ-followers?

Each of have a course marked out for us.  Each course is different.  Each course is filled with it's own up's and down's, curves and straights, bumps and bruises.  Every course is different like the people who run them.  I know that doesn't sound fair because I would love to run someone else's course because it looks more fun, but that is how God works.  You have a course to run that I can't run.  You have a purpose that only you are meant to fulfill.

This course requires of you endurance and perseverance.  We, the members of the great crowd of witnesses, need you to run the race set before you with perseverance.  We need you to grasp, with all your might, the course that has been set before you today, don't worry about the course around the next turn or over the next hill, look only to the course that is just before you.  We need you to throw off every and anything that is entangling your and slowing your down.  Anything that is causing you to trip up needs to be removed.

It is time for us believers to step up to the line and start the race that has been set before you.  You might have stumbled and quit running.  You might have many bruises or even broken bones, but it is time to get back on the course and keep running.  Trust me, I know about bruises.  I understand the pain of broken bones, both physically and emotionally.  I have experienced my share of hurts and have even taken some time off of the course, or so I thought.  But it is time to get back into the race.

Whether you believe it or not, you have never stopped running the race.  People have always been watching.  They have always been evaluating.  They have always been cheering and encouraging.  Don't quit running!  Don't give up!  We need you to persevere for the saints that have gone on before, the saints that are present today and the saints that are coming after.  Keep running!