Run the Race

Run The Race

I remember when I was ten years old, I received my first motorcycle. I was so excited; I wanted to climb on that motorcycle and ride. However there was one problem, I had not received any training in the art of riding a motorcycle.
My step-father tried to teach me the basics of riding a motorcycle, but I insisted that I knew what I was doing. My step-father said, “Okay, you are on your own.” I climbed on that motorcycle, started it up, put it in first gear and with a big smile on my face I rode that motorcycle right into the side of my step-fathers truck. I then received some instruction and guidance in the basics of riding motorcycle. With time, patience and perseverance I became pretty good at riding and working on motorcycles. I even did a little racing in my youth.
When I look back upon my life as a Christian, I see a lot of things I wish I would have done differently. There have been times that I could have shared the love of Jesus and I didn’t. Sermons I have preached that I know I could have done better. Many times when talking with my brothers, I should have been more patient.
When I look back upon my life as a Christian, if only I would have laid all my baggage at the feet of Jesus, I could have focused more on serving my Lord.
Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witness, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
As I grew spiritually as a Christian, I slowly accepted instruction from the Holy Spirit. With time patience and perseverance I have been able to “lay aside every (all most) weight” and rather than riding into the side of trucks, I can “run with endurance the race that is set before us (me).”
I can now look back upon my life as a Christian and see the precious moments when God has spoken to me, asking me to approach a brother and ask,” How are you?” Then ten or fifteen minutes later I have found myself holding my brother while he wept because a loved one had lost their life.
A moment when God directed me into the path of a very young man (a gang member) who spoke to me about wanting to kill another man because of the murder of his brother, I shared the love of Jesus and the forgiveness of Jesus with this young man, the Holy Spirit touched this young man and he forgave the man that had killed his brother.
When I carried the weight of my past with me there wasn’t any room in my life to “run the race”. There wasn’t any room to hear God, see the pain of others, obey God, reach out to those in need, serve God, watch God change lives around me.
When I lay “aside every weight”, my past, all that I had done and all that had been done to me, that is when my life truly and completely became God’s. I now “run with endurance the race. The race that is set before us (me)”. I still fall, I do not stay down and feel sorry for myself anymore, I now get up as fast as I can, pray and continue the race.
Come race with me!
Bro Dan