"RUN!!!"

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #131af Re-Written 08MAR09

Save Me Today—Part Thirty Two: “RUN!!!”

by rev dave c

In my high school days I was a moderately successful distance runner. While competing in the mile and two-mile runs I was taught three things: 1) The other guy is hurting just as much as I am. 2) Don’t save all my strength for the last sprint to the finish. 3) Run against my best time, not just against the other runners. As long as I remembered these principles, I was insured of striving toward my potential. Otherwise, I would begin to feel sorry for myself (distance running can be painful) and I might set a slower pace. This could eventually result in my being too far behind the lead competitor and I would have too much strength held in reserve for the end of the race when it would do me little good. Always running against my best time was important because a runner can wind up in a slow race, or a slow heat, where even winning could amount to less than the best possible finish. The goal was to be constantly getting stronger, smarter, and setting new personal records.

Several times in the New Testament Paul uses the analogy of running a race to describe the life of a Christian. A prime example is found in First Corinthians 9:24 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. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (NIV). In the same way that Paul is not encouraging us to box with other Christians, the Apostle is not saying that Christians are running against each other. The Church isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a competition. Rather Paul is saying that we are to do our very best to run the personal race that God has laid out before each of us (He 12:1). In the power of the Holy Spirit we are running against our own flesh and the ways of the world.

When Paul speaks of being disqualified for the prize in First Corinthians 9:27, he is not referring to losing his salvation per se; rather, he is speaking of varied heavenly rewards presented according to how he lived out this life. He is saying that it is not enough to simply be qualified to enter the race (that is, declared righteous and adopted into the family of God through salvation as justification)—we need to be running as best we can through loving obedience to the written and living Word of God (salvation as sanctification). In Second Timothy 4:7&8 we read, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (NIV). Paul is here speaking of that ultimate glorification through resurrection that he was looking forward to in Galatians 5:5, But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope (NIV).

If any man builds on this foundation [the Gospel of Jesus Christ] using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames (1Co 3:14-15; NIV). It would be difficult to state any more clearly the difference between essential salvation at the point we come to Christ, and the rewards to be given in the next life according to how we live in the here and now. Through justification we were entered into the race. Through sanctification we are running the race. Through glorification we will be rewarded according to how we finish the race.

Listen to the words of John the Beloved: Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully (2Jn 1:8; NIV). Jesus, Himself, tells us in Matthew 10:40-42, "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward" (NIV). In these verses Christ is not delineating different levels or types of salvation. He is literally describing different rewards that are the result of our being obedient within a Today that is saved according to His commandments to love God with our whole person, love our neighbor as ourselves, and love one another as He has loved us.

I pray that we are willing to join our prayers to the exhortation of the writer of Hebrews: 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. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (He 12:1&2; NIV). “Jesus, please help us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and help us to run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Lord, save us today. Amen.”