All You’ve Got

A few years back two of my daughters started running cross-country. Prior to their new interest in the sport I had very little experience with it. I had known people who did it and at that time I had run a few 5Ks and half-marathons, but had never been to a cross-country meet. If you have never attended a high school cross country meet then you should do yourself a favor and go see the spectacle at least once. One of the more famous locations for such events is just outside of Moulton at the Oakville Indian Mounds near the home place of Jesse Owens. Several of our local schools have individuals or teams who have qualified to run in the state meet this coming Saturday at that very location.

There are few sports that illustrate the saying of “give it all you’ve got” as perfectly as cross-country running does. At the end of every single meet you will find runners crossing the finish line and immediately collapsing, passing out, and/or vomiting. I know it doesn’t sound very appealing. Yet, it is extremely common and even encouraged to push ones self to that point in order to finish strong and accomplish a personal record each time.

So it should not come as a shock that the Scripture uses this sort of competitive run as an illustration of the spiritual journey we are on. When the Hebrew writer was encouraging us to live like the great cloud of witnesses from chapter 11, he encouraged us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which easily entangles us and run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). In 1 Corinthians 9:24 Paul asks, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” Running to obtain means giving everything you have.

We all recognize that Jesus paid the ultimate price and we can only begin to get close to God because of what Jesus did. But there is clear evidence that he has an expectation that we will change the way we live and run His race with everything we have. Paul even questions the Galatians regarding their race: “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth” (Galatians 5:7).

What does your race look like right now? Are you giving it your all? Has sin hindered you? Is someone else holding you back? Are the cares of the world trying to trip you up? Take one step at a time and one breath at a time. Press on to “the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:3). Crowns were often given as the prize in the games in the first century. They were usually leafy crowns like you might see in the Olympics logos.

My prayer is that we each can say, when we cross the finish line, “ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-7).

Finish strong and give it all you’ve got!

Ben