Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3,
Hebrews 12:4-8, 2 Timothy 2:11-13
In today’s Character of a
Methodist, the 12th in our series, we consider not only our walk
with the LORD, but the race that we are called to run with Him. The spiritual race, though, is different from
the worldly ones that we are more familiar with. The world’s races only allow one winner,
while the LORD’s races proclaim winners of all who finish the race
faithfully. Winners of the world’s races
receive human prizes and human accolades, while the victors, the faithful who
strive to win with Jesus, receive eternal glory and honor from God. The rules for worldly competitions are
established by committees and are sometimes complicated in nature, while the
commandments for the race we run with God are pretty straightforward – “follow
the ways that I walked, and you will succeed.”
John Wesley tells us that
it isn’t about the walk that others are involved in, but only in the one that
we have been called to share with Christ.
In his tract “The Character of a Methodist”,
Wesley wrote “Nor do the customs of the world at all hinder his running the
race that is set before him. He knows
that vice does not lose its nature, though it becomes ever so fashionable; and
remembers, that every man is to give an account of himself to God. He cannot therefore, even follow a multitude
to do evil.” In other words, it
isn’t about how others run their life’s race, but how well each one of us runs
our own.
The only thing that these
two “races” have in common, is that they require preparation, practice, and
dedication to run as well as we possibly can.
So lets take a look at how scripture can guide us and help us in the
Godly race that we strive to run to honor our LORD.
Read Hebrews 12:1-3
The writer of Hebrews gives us a great list of issues that we have
to carefully focus on if we are to finish our race as victors. First, get rid of everything that may get in
our way, those obstacles to faith such as ignoring the commands that Jesus has
given, or trying to mimic other “runners” instead of staying on the course that
God has established for us.
Second, we are to run with perseverance, never trying to avoid the
difficult portions of the path, but always keeping our eyes fixed on the goal
of Jesus. In Romans 5:1-5, Paul
writes that “suffering produces perseverance”, and that when we continue
against those great and overwhelming odds that discourage us, we grow in Christian character (or
for John Wesley our Methodist character!), and as our faithfulness grows
stronger, our hope in Christ is renewed and refocused on His truth.
And third, by staying close enough to Jesus to follow His lead in this
life, we never lose sight of the example that He set down for us. And what does He want us to gain from the
life He lived? That we are to never give
up in faith, that the way of Jesus will always lead us to the goal, and if we
follow the way that He walked, we will never go astray.
Racers in the world are always trying to find an edge over the
other runners so that they can come in ahead of all the rest! But a life in Christ will gain a reward in
keeping with the life we have lived, in our helping others to run well, but never
in comparison to how others ran theirs. (Matthew20:1-18)
Read Hebrews 12:4-8
Regardless of the depth of “your struggle against sin”,
which, of course, is the very thing that obstructs our vision of Jesus, we must
always be alert to the world’s goal of making us stumble and fall in the “race”
we run with our LORD. The
writer seems to equate our struggles with God’s discipline, with the
implication being that the LORD has caused
our struggles. I believe, though, that
struggle comes solely through the world and that relief from those ways is
available from God alone through faithful living and persistent prayer.
Of course, these times also give us the opportunity to consider
what God would have us learn about His grace!
And the change that comes from the LORD, - the
very change that impacts our lives - is the result of our growth through divine
discipline. And we have to always
remember that struggle can come from 2 separate conditions in our life – first,
when we sin against God, and He steps away from our life to allow our free will
to work in those other ways, the world’s way begins to take over, and nothing
good can ever come from that. But there
are also those difficult times when Satan challenges us to believe that God is
not all that we would hope and believe that He is, and that another diverse way
may be our better option!
Either way, if God doesn’t do anything about a condition that is
plaguing us, maybe we should consider the part that we are playing in
the situation! Be focused, and
persistent, and reflect on what the LORD would
have us know, for if we are truly walking in His light, and if we learn the divine
lesson that is being presented, that only means that we are in His way, and
that we are still a child of the one, true and living God.
We need to keep on running the race of faith, regardless of what
comes against us. Seek the will and
direction of our Almighty God, and may His will and way prevail!
Read 2 Timothy 2:11-13
This letter that Paul
wrote to his young friend Timothy may very well have been the last letter he
would ever write before he was executed.
And this passage that we lift up today could be the very lesson that
Paul learned from the life he lived in Christ Jesus.
Paul had to die to himself
on that road to Damascus before Jesus could begin living in him. Paul had always had a great trust in his own
wisdom and understandings, and that all had to change – it had to die
within him - before the truth of Christ could become his living guide. He writes that endurance in keeping God’s
truth is a vital necessity as we walk that road of faith with our LORD. But if we ever think that the “former self”
was far better than the “new person” that faith in Jesus can bring, we will
have stepped away from Jesus, and God will step away from us.
But even in our lack of
faith, even in our denial of God’s great work in Christ, divine hope will
continue to call us back to the race and way that Jesus has already run for
us. Paul wrote this letter as an
encouragement to the next generation of church leaders, as well as for all who
would, one day, follow in the path and way of Jesus.
There will be days when
that way will be gentle and refreshing and blessed, and others when it feels
like you are running a race of frustration, a race to save your life. Either way, remember that the life, the
glory, the love, and the faithfulness of Jesus Christ is the only hope that you
will ever be able to count on.
Wesley
wrote “No corrupt communication ever comes out of his mouth, as is all that
which is not good, to the use of edifying, not fit to minister grace to the
hearers. But whatsoever things ae pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are justly of good report, he
thinks and speaks, and acts, adorning the gospel of our LORD
Jesus Christ in all things.”
May your “race” in Christ bring many opportunities, joys, and blessings through the life you live with Him.
