RUNNING THE RACE SET BEFORE US

A dear friend of mine, a sister in Christ, explained how a person runs 26.2 miles. She said, "You don't run 26.2 miles at once. You pick a point on the horizon on the course and run to that. When you reach that point, you pick out another point on the horizon of the course and run to that and so on until you finish 26.2 miles."

As Pastor Eugene Peterson said, "Following Jesus Christ as Lord is a long obedience in the same direction."

We have hundreds if not thousands of records and accounts of men, women and children who have given their lives to follow Jesus Christ. To follow Him, St. John stated in his first Epistle chapter 2 verses 5-6, " But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did."

Jesus lived in such a unity with His heavenly Father that He could say, "I only do what I see my Father doing and I only say what I hear my Father saying. THAT is a life fixed on the One whose purpose was Jesus' only purpose.

To live our lives as Jesus did means an utter reliance upon the Holy Spirit to take the things of Jesus and make them real to us and IN US. Too many have the concept of Jesus just walking with them. He does, but He does so by living His Life in us. For the follower of Jesus Christ, Jesus has become life within you.

You were once dead in your sins and rebellion and (Colossians 2:11-15) God took you out of death and brought you into His own Life. "When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross."

Jesus Christ has run His race, finished His course, and is seated at the Right hand of the Father. His Life is being lived out in us and through us by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One who enables us to "fix our eyes on Jesus." The Lord had promised that He would never leave us or forsake us. He is running His race in us and will not run so far ahead in His purpose for our lives that we can't see Him and follow.

The testimonies of millions are before us in the pages of Holy Scripture as well as authenticated and countless other historical records of those who have believed God, received His salvation and experienced their lives being transformed as they followed Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1-4"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, 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 One upon Whom our faith depends from start to finish. 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. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin."

The "race" is life-long. The road is narrow and hard since it demands that our confidence must no longer be grounded in our own understanding or giftedness, but in His Resurrection Life being lived in us to be lived through us.

2025 is another "leg" in that spiritual marathon. The Lord Jesus, having finished the race so that by Him and in Him we can run our race to its competition, stands at the Bema Seat, the Judgement Seat with laurel-leafed crowns to hand to all who finish their race and take their place, standing with Him till all who follow the Lord Jesus shall finish their race and receive that "crown", that, in Greek,
"stephanos", the laurel-leafed crown of finishing well from Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 4:6-8 as Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:6-8) "As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of His return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to His appearing."

The Lord runs ahead of you so you can see His direction, He runs IN you so you might know His will in the running, and He empowers you to exercise His authority along the way to dismantle the works of darkness and bring many others into His Kingdom.

God's anointing and blessing be with you, in you and manifest itself through you into this new year and beyond thill He calls you home.