Physical fitness has exploded in the interest of our culture
today. People are running more 5K’s then they can make up silly names for and
people are becoming more concerned with physical health.
I think that one of the main ideas that makes athletic
training appealing is the idea that your performance and progress often depends
on your own motivation and drive to change and transform your body.
“Get off the couch and do something!”
“You can do it!”
[Enter inspirational athlete quote here]
The point is that physical fitness, by placing such an
emphasis on our motivation and drive, gives us a sense of control in regards to
whether we progress or not.
And we like that.
“Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us
run the race with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus,
the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne
of God” - Hebrews 12:1-2
This verse identifies with Turkey Trotter’s and Ironman’s
alike because races and endurance are something they use and train for.
But there is a serious disconnect from our version of
running a race and the race that is mentioned here and it stems from our own
perception athletic training and what the focus is.
“Rise
and GRIND”
Our version of running a race includes a lot of things.
The first step is to get up, dust off your Nike’s and be
ready to commit to whatever new fitness craze you Googled or your best friend
pinned on Pinterest, go out and get some healthy food and, for the men
especially, go and get one of those obnoxious bottles of protein supplements.
You’re ready to change YOU.
This includes a lot of work.
White Knuckles
Our view of training for a race translates into our
spiritual lives by letting us tell ourselves that we can “white-knuckle” or manhandle
our way to salvation and holiness.
We misuse this verse’s meaning to motivate, by using the
motivation it brings to somehow train
harder, as if that how we run the race.
The verse isn’t:
“Therefore let us run the race with
exhaustion and guilt, only using practical methods and neglecting our savior
because we got this!”
Am I saying that using practical steps to combat sin and
having accountability is bad?
No.
Am I saying that believers need to lay back and let sin
remain in their life?
No.
What I am saying is that practical steps only go so far.
A website filter isn’t going to save you.
The friends you tell your struggles to cannot offer
salvation.
A rehab meeting isn’t going to justify you before God.
The Holy Spirit has to come into you heart, and completely
WRECK SHOP.
Jesus Christ is the only source of power and redemption and
if you are walking with all of the practical steps, your Nike’s laced up, and
you try on your own power to change yourself, you’re rejecting the Gospel and
you will run yourself to exhaustion.
It starts with the HEART.
Blinders
“Run with endurance
the race that is set before us, looking to JESUS, the founder and perfecter of
our faith…”
It’s not about the training. It never was.
It’s not about our work. It never was meant to be.
If we run our spiritual race with our heads down and our
blinders on, then we are exhausting ourselves in vain because with Jesus, its
like we started the race at the finish line.
The point isn’t to “run hard and do more”.
To think so is to devalue God’s sovereign plan of sending
his son, Jesus, by not fully acknowledging what his sacrifice on the cross
really meant.
This is why so many people are spiritually stuck. They are
so focused on having the "right Nike’s" and drinking enough "Gatorade" that they
don’t realize that if they would just pursue
the finish line, they would actually
run the race.
Photo cred. - http://clouddragon.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/
