Run Forrest Run
There’s a race we’re all running, but we could get caught out if we treat like a sprint when it’s actually more like a marathon. It takes stamina and courage to go the distance, Roger Davies Pastor of Hope City Church in Sheffield, looks at how to stay fit for the race of life through perseverance.
At school one thing I was really good at was running. Not like Maurice Green but more like Forrest Gump! I was no sprinter but I had the ability to just keep running. At the start of every cross country race I entered, there would be over 300 boys lined up and at the sound of the starter’s gun; a mad dash across an open field as each runner tried to get to the front of the pack. But this was only the first two hundred yards in a three mile race. At the first hill several boys would stop running and I would overtake them. Then, when the course took us through an ice cold river another bunch of runners would pull out and I would move up some more places. This would continue at every obstacle during the race so that by the time I reached the finish line I would consistently be amongst the top ten runners.
The key to my success was perseverance. The word literally means ‘through (per) hardship (severe)’. It is a quality each one of us needs to enable us to run a good race in 2007. The starter’s gun has sounded for the New Year and there’s been a mad dash of people, full of fresh resolve, trying to sprint their way to success by the end of January. But remember that 2007 has twelve months in it with challenges to be faced throughout. So let’s be wise and not run out of steam by the end of the first month. Instead,
“Run with perseverance the race marked out for you…” (Hebrews 12v1)
The Apostle Paul (who may well have written the instruction above) was a master at persevering. Take, for example, his time at Lystra, a city in what is now Turkey. He went there to tell the people that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and demonstrated this resurrection power by healing a man who was crippled. However, some of the people would not accept Paul’s message and so they stoned him and dragged him outside the city thinking he was dead. Paul’s friends gathered round him and to their surprise he was alive. He left the city the next day but within weeks he returned to declare the same message again and encourage those who previously believed it, insisting that
“We must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God”
(Acts 14v22)
It seems that to achieve anything of great significance you need “stickability”:
• Sylvester Stallone was turned down by one thousand agents and down to his last $300 before finding a company to produce the film “Rocky”
• Walt Disney was turned down over three hundred times before getting the money to create his dream of “the happiest place on earth”
• Colonel Sanders spent two years driving across the United States approaching over one thousand restaurants before one would buy his chicken recipe
We can start off in a new job, on a new team or in new role with great enthusiasm and sense of purpose, only to find that after a while the vision for what we are doing fades and the enthusiasm fritters away. We end up quitting before the job is finished, the task accomplished or the team strengthened. Some how we need to find the motivation to keep going so that we finish the race and not just start it. We need the determination to see things through to the end no matter what hardship we face along the way so that like the apostle Paul we can say:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race.” (2 Timothy 4v7)
Here are seven keys from Paul’s life that will help us to persevere throughout 2007:
1. A Sense of Purpose
Paul started his letter: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” (2 Timothy 1v1) He knew that God had chosen him for a specific purpose and he wanted to fulfil that call. Winston Churchill was another man who had a deep conviction that he had been put on the Earth for a unique purpose and this sustained him through the hardships of the Second World War when he was Prime Minister. So why are you here? Do you know what you have been created to do and what your purpose in life is? As a Christian we are all called to honour God and serve Him but do you know what unique purpose God wants to fulfil through your life? Start exploring God’s Word and learn to listen out to get hold of what your purpose is.
2. Sense of Destiny
“I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did….” (2 Timothy 1v3). Paul did not see his life as an isolated event, but a continuation of a spiritual family line. He had a heritage and he was determined to keep this family line running. As Christians we are spiritual descendants of people who believed and trusted God and made a difference in their day. And now it is our turn to run well, serve God and then pass the baton onto those who come after us. Get hold of the Godly destiny that was put on you even before you were in the womb.
3. A Love for the Gospel
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel for which I am suffering….” (2 Timothy 2v8). Paul knew that the only true source of life, the only answer to every problem, the only way to a brilliant eternity with God was Jesus Christ. This conviction made him determined to share the Good News with anyone who would listen. His passion was to see others enjoy life with Jesus as much as he did. You and I need to value the Good News about Jesus above all else so that His cause becomes our reason for living.
4. The Power of God’s Grace
“Join with me and in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own…grace.” (2 Timothy 1v9). Paul hated Christians and persecuted them fervently until he had an encounter with the risen Christ en route to Damascus. Imagine what went through his mind as Jesus blinded him with his majesty and then rightly accused him of persecuting His followers. I think Paul probably thought he was going to die – squashed under Jesus’ powerful hand. Yet he was shown mercy and kindness. Instead of being judged and punished by Jesus he was forgiven and freed. That sense of gratitude never left him and compelled him to serve Jesus with all his heart. Let the power of God’s grace keep you pressing on into all He has for your life.
5. The Life of Christ in Us
“Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” (2 Timothy 1v14). Paul knew that God lived in him, that the same power that raised Jesus from the grave was now at work in Him. And that power sustained him. The amazing fact is that this was not unique to Paul. If you have put your faith in Jesus his power now lives in you too and can give you the strength to persevere.
6. A Love for Other Christians
“Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect….” (2 Timothy 2v10). Paul knew that how he talked and how he behaved had an impact on the lives of others. He was prepared to endure anything if it meant that other people prospered as a result. Your life counts too. Other people, whether your spouse; friends; children; work colleagues, are looking to you for encouragement and strength from the way you live your life. Learn to love persevering for the sake of those around you.
7. Our Reward
“Now there is in store for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord….will award to me on that day…” (2 Timothy 4v8). Arguably the thing that kept Paul going more than anything else was the thought of the finish line when he would receive a prize. That was his hope, his confidence and his passion – to live for a prize given to him by the King of Kings, stored up for him in Heaven, that could not fade or spoil or perish. He knew that nothing on this Earth could outweigh the value of that reward. He lived his life as if he was just passing through. Heaven was his home and so all the choices he made were to maximise his eternal investments.
Who knows what this year has in store for you? One certainty, however, is that at some point you will face challenges, obstacles and difficulties. The temptation at that point will be to give up or pull back, forgetting that the race of faith you are in is not a sprint but a cross country event. What you need most at that critical moment is perseverance to keep going. Like Paul, that can only come from the power of God at work in your life.