"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,"
Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV)
When I was in High School, I was involved in various running sports and we would compete against other schools. Sometimes we would have to travel to another school for the competition; sometimes the trip was short, and sometimes the trip was long and took more time. Then, after we arrived, we got ourselves ready for the race, but we still had to run the race, which had not yet even started. The traveling and the preparations we did were just the beginning and the race still had to be run.
In the Bible, the Christian life is compared to several things, including a race, as we see in Hebrews 12. The point is to run our race, which is to fulfill God's plan for our life. But there are a lot of people who come to know Jesus and then somehow think that is the end. Salvation and being born again is not the goal, it is just the beginning, it is just the start of the race that God has called us to run. Our race has only begun and there is so much more that God wants us to do.
There are some things we have done to get to the point we are at now, but that does not mean we now just sit on the sidelines as though the race is over. We should never get to the place of spiritual contentment, thinking we have arrived and now we are just living our life waiting to go to heaven. We need to keep on running our race, laying aside anything that would hinder us, doing what God has instructed us to do in His Word and by the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV)
When I was in High School, I was involved in various running sports and we would compete against other schools. Sometimes we would have to travel to another school for the competition; sometimes the trip was short, and sometimes the trip was long and took more time. Then, after we arrived, we got ourselves ready for the race, but we still had to run the race, which had not yet even started. The traveling and the preparations we did were just the beginning and the race still had to be run.
In the Bible, the Christian life is compared to several things, including a race, as we see in Hebrews 12. The point is to run our race, which is to fulfill God's plan for our life. But there are a lot of people who come to know Jesus and then somehow think that is the end. Salvation and being born again is not the goal, it is just the beginning, it is just the start of the race that God has called us to run. Our race has only begun and there is so much more that God wants us to do.
There are some things we have done to get to the point we are at now, but that does not mean we now just sit on the sidelines as though the race is over. We should never get to the place of spiritual contentment, thinking we have arrived and now we are just living our life waiting to go to heaven. We need to keep on running our race, laying aside anything that would hinder us, doing what God has instructed us to do in His Word and by the direction of the Holy Spirit.