Run Your Race

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Run Your Race

by David Huff

When I was a kid, I participated in track and field and numerous other sports. Track was something that I excelled at, especially since I was a tall, slender kid. Most people think that everybody is super-fast, and in a lot of cases this is not always accurate. Shortdistance runners are usually the ones who excel with speed, and they would beat me every time. However, when you take a short-distance runner and put them in my area, which was long-distance, the tables turned.

In long-distance running, the runner paces themselves and knows when to turn on the speed and when to coast. Long-distance running is more about endurance than speed. If you come out of the gate too fast, you will run out of energy, too slow, and you will fall too far behind. Knowing your endurance level helps you to run at the right speed. Paul talks about racing with endurance in Hebrews 12:1: “Therefore, since there is such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run the race with endurance.”

Paul is telling us here that unless we lose the weight of the world and the things that hold us back, then we will not have the endurance to win the race in a world that wants to keep us captive to the pains, hurts, and hindrances that we have. Paul is saying to release them. Yes, some may be hard to do so, but it also allows our endurance to grow stronger so that we can finish our race. Paul goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 9:24, “Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the race.”

For Christians, we all receive a prize, and that prize is eternal life with Jesus Christ, but there is still a race to be run here on earth. So, we have to lose the chains and weights that hold us back from fulfilling the calling that God has given each one of us, and we will never fulfill that mission if we are

bound by the chains of the past. Our job is to reach the unsaved by showing Christ-like character, and we cannot do that bound by weights and chains. So run your race and show others the greatest prize there is to win is Jesus. No trophy or reward is greater than Him.

About The Author My name is David Huff, and I am married to Brittany and together we have five wonderful kids. We attend Rock Bridge Community Church Calhoun where I serve on the prayer team, host team, and a small group co leader. I am also a senior at Lee University.

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