I taught in Sunday school this week about determination. Our memory verse for that week was Jeremiah 12:1 "Let us keep running the race marked out for us". This is a verse that I had heard many times.It came to a point where comparing life to a race had become just another cliché. But as I began to talk last night with one of my friends about what I was struggling with, the only metaphor that I could use was one of a runner and a race.
I ran track for one season in 7th grade. My main event was the 100 meter hurdles (mostly because that was the ONLY event I could do). I told the coach my first day of practice that I was a sprinter, I was incapable of running the distance. However, on at one particular meet coach decided to "expand my skills" and put me in the 4x400 . This is an event where there are 4 members and each one has to run 1 lap and then pass the baton. Although 1 lap is really not that great of a distance, when you are used to only running a fourth of that, it can seem like a huge distance. I was the first leg of the relay and held a solid last place for my whole lap.When I got to the last 100 meters, I was slightly motivated because this was a distance I was used to. I began to pick up speed, getting almost to a full sprint. Just a few feet from the finish line, I began to feel the effects of this last attempt to gain some ground. Me legs were burning, I had a cramp and I was breathing really heavy. What was a sprint, turned into a jog and eventually a speed walk across the finish line. I handed the baton to my partner, who was visibly upset with me, then went straight to the grass beside the track to lay down. I must have stayed there for a good five minutes, until I felt all the pain in my body fade away. Then I jumped up with a new energy and watched all my teammates get their awards.
This anecdote reveals a lot about me. One, I suck at track. Two, as soon as things get hard I give up. The irony of this realization is that I was teaching my Sunday school class that they needed to do the opposite. Our main point was that "even when things get hard, we need to keep going".
As I was talking to my friend last night I realized that I am the same spiritually as I was physically that day at the track meet. I do a really good job of running and doing the things that God called me to do. Then as soon as I feel the slightest pain or things seem to hard, I stop running and rest. It is during these times of rest that Satan choses to remind me of all my insecurities and worries. I get overwhelmed with jealousy, sadness, and lack of confidence. But instead of fighting these thoughts off (like I can when I am running towards God), I choose to let them consume my life because I am too tired. I choose to justify them and accept their truth, just cause it is easier than having to stand up against them. I get spiritually lazy and tired.
Much like running a track, you build more endurance the longer you run. It takes time, but eventually you are able to run more an more with less and less difficulty. But if you never build up that endurance, then every time you run, it is hard. It is the same thing spiritually. If you run towards God, follow his ways, fight off temptation, and make a habit of talking to him, then you can build up your spiritual endurance, so that as soon as you feel that cramp, you have the strength and experience to know that you just have to run through it. However, if you are only a spiritual sprinter, then as soon as your short distance is over, you stop and wait for the next little burst. When I used to run track, we used to have to run a mile and a half for warm up. Every practice I would ask the coach why I had to run such long distances of I was a sprinter. His response was the same every time: "You need to be more than a sprinter, you need to be a runner. In order to do this, you need to run". This same phrase can apply to me spiritually as well. I do not need to be a spiritual sprinter, I need to be a spiritual cross-country star. I need to keep running even when the terrain gets difficult or my legs hurt of I get a cramp. God called me to have the determination to continue on the path that he has for me, and I cant be on that path if I am too bust laying in the grass beside the path waiting for things to get better...
BB
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