By Kevin Guigou – Associate Pastor
Growing up in our small North Carolina town, one annual highlight of primary and elementary school was competing in “Field Day.” It was an outdoor day of athletic events to build a competitive mindset and team spirit.
From the earliest grades, I happily discovered that I excelled in sprinting races. I don’t recall losing the 100-yard dash during the first eight years of public schooling.
Even the guys who didn’t talk to me during the year would be my best buds when gathering a team for the four-man relays. We seemed to always win.
So entering high school, I naturally tried out for the track team. There, I was introduced to novel ideas like conditioning, coaching, advanced competition, and building stamina.
But in my first practice event, speedy Kevin was blown off the track by an older runner. Vivid disappointment.
Ironically, the coaches plugged me into the 400-meter event, which I quickly discovered required a one-lap, full sprint around the track. My dreams of replacing The Flash were over.
I survived that season, but had no endurance for races of any real distance. For longer events, I never developed the discipline of pacing myself.
Run with Endurance
“… let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.” Hebrews 12:1-3 NLT
The Bible describes the Christian life as a race that not only calls for power, but also perseverance, persistence, and patience. Too often, we only think of the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit as being instantaneous.
More often, we need God’s daily strength just to walk steadfastly in God’s love, peace, longsuffering, etc.
Thankfully, the Spirit of God empowers bursts of energy for life’s shorter sprints, as well as supernatural stamina over the long run of faithfulness.
True conversion, transformation, mind renewal, and maturity are cultivated across a lifetime. That’s Christianity.
Scripture describes salvation less as, “Just gimme a ticket to heaven,” and more as turning over life’s lordship to Jesus, abiding in him, and exemplifying an invitational kingdom lifestyle.
“Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence but much more now in my absence, work on your own salvation with fear and trembling,
For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12-13 NRSV
In the sporty contest of life, we pace ourselves while keeping our eyes on the hope of a “new heavens and a new earth where righteousness is at home” (2 Peter 3:13, NRSV).
God has invited us into a royal adventure of joyful, lifelong submission that ultimately explodes into an eternal, breathtaking glory.
“… I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:13-14 NLT
“We are citizens of heaven, you see, and we’re eagerly waiting for the savior, the Lord, Messiah Jesus, who is going to come from there. Our present body is a shabby old thing, but he’s going to transform it so that it’s just like his glorious body.
And he’s going to do this by the power which makes him able to bring everything into line under his authority.” Philippians 3:20–21 NTE
The Long Haul
We’re in it for the long run … the long haul. The phrase “long haul” began to be used in the 18th century to describe seafaring and transportation efforts to carry cargo over extended distances.
It symbolized sustained voyages that required time and commitment with a rewarding goal in mind.
Image courtesy of PickPik
Our voyage of life will surely involve high seas and rough waters, but we are supernaturally empowered to press on by an eternal hope before us. We begin our Christian life with the end in mind.
“… with eager hope, creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
We know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. We believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.
We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us were given this hope when we were saved…” Romans 8:20-24 NLT
“… be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV
Together, let’s enjoy staying the course with the Master into eternity!