tifaceted and therefore the Bible describes it in vivid ways.
Sometimes the Bible paints our Christian life as walking according to God’s word [Isaiah 2:5]. Sometimes the Bible paints our Christian life as soldiers in the battle ground [2 Timothy 2:3-4]. Other times the Bible paints our Christian life as an athlete competing to win the prize [2 Timothy 4:7].
Our Christian life includes walking according to God’s word. Our Christian life includes fighting the battle as soldiers of Christ. Our Christian life includes being an athlete who trains his body to win a heavenly crown.
Likewise, Hebrews 12:1-2 paints our Christian life as running a race. It calls us to run the race well by doing four specific things:
1. Running by considering the cloud of witnesses.
2. Running by laying aside every weight.
3. Running by laying aside every sin.
4. Running with endurance by looking to Jesus.
Lord willing, we will look at each of these four points separately in the coming weeks. But today I want us to remember two important things:
1. Who is in the race?
2. Who is our competition?
First, this race is for Christians and Christians alone. This race is a race of faith. If you don’t have true faith, then you are not even in the race.
You must believe that the Bible is the very word of God.
You must believe that God created all things out of nothing.
You must believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and life and apart from him there is no salvation, there is no eternal life.
You must absolutely believe that without the work of God the Holy Spirit in your life, it is impossible for you to live the Christian life.
And you must believe the summary of the Christian truths as taught in the Apostle’s creed.
So, ask yourself this: “When I look at the Bible, do I have a holy reverence for God’s word? Do I firmly believe that my sins are forgiven because of the shed blood of Jesus? Do I rely upon the Holy Spirit for all my Christian endeavors?”
I hope that you can say yes to all these questions. If not, don’t rest until you become a true Christian by trusting in the blood of Jesus and being obedient to his word.
Now the second thing, our competition. We must remember that we are not competing against fellow Christians. We all run the race of faith together. We all get a crown of glory at the end. So we should never see each other as competition or rivals.
Yes, Apostle Paul tells us to run in such a way to get the prize, but in the end he tells us that he competes with his own self. So, we should try to outperform our own selves (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
And we must strive together against our common enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil.
