When I was in elementary school I was introduced to the world of track and field. As the years went by we would learn about different track events while our gym teacher was scouting us to see who had the potential to represent the school in the regional track and field championships.
When I got to grade 6, our teacher introduced me to hurdles where he noticed that I had natural ability and speed. He asked me to represent the school and from there he spent weeks training me. The one thing this teacher expressed over and over again was “the race is over when you cross the finish line, not when you jump over the last hurdle”. In other words, don’t stop and keep running to the end.
Fast forward one year, I was in the regional championship in Toronto representing my Jr High School. When the race started, I got off to a good start, however, so did one of the other runners who took a large lead and I dropped to second place.
As I watched this runner jump over the last hurdle, I had it in my head that ‘the race is over when you cross the finish line’ so I had no intention of stopping, even when the results weren’t looking good.
As the runner jumped over his last hurdle, he started to lose his balance and he eventually fell just before the finish line. Now, I feel to mention that I wasn’t a Christian at this point in life, so helping this person did not cross my mind. I was trained to do was cross the finish line so I kept running and ended up coming in first place.
Although I had every reason to give up, that wasn’t what I was taught to do.
If you have grown up in the church culture, many Christians have been taught something very similar from Hebrews 12 which says ‘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’.
When it comes to life, and more specifically 2022, God has a race marked out for you, and it’s quite possible you will have obstacles that hinder you, sin that trips you up, and there will be moments you want to quit.
When it comes to walking with God, I have never met a man who said he was going to quit beforehand. We all say the right thing when we talk about this race we are all in.
Things like, “nothing will stop me and hinder my walk with God”. Or “no sin will tempt me and throw me off”, “I will persevere!”. However, talking the talk is different than walking the walk. Unfortunately, I have seen many men quit on God when the results weren’t looking good.
I know this might sound a bit cliche, but know the race isn’t over until you cross the finish line. No matter how hard life gets, no matter what sins you are wrapped up in, and no matter how hopeless life may seem, don’t stop pursuing God, and continue to run the race He marked out for you.
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