Running the Race

A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain. -2 Timothy 2:4-7

Over the years there has been much publicity in the field of athletics where competitors have cheated in one way or another, particularly in the are of performance enhancing drugs. Here, Paul’s analogy amounts to the same thing in terms of running a Godly race. Mind you a read this recently and it made me smile, “It is a good idea to obey all the rules when you're young just so you'll have the strength to break them when you're old.”

I read of a teacher who recalled this experience “Nearly thirty years ago, I was a middle school teacher in Kenya. One day I took 20 students, and I told them: "I will do my best to teach you and train you. If you obey me, you will be the best students of this school." They were excited.

In a short time, I realised that only some of them were willing to keep up with my training. Some of them said, "It’s too difficult." Some said, "We have more important things to do." Some of them said, "You see other students are having more fun than we do." When they graduated, 2 of them were the best students of the school. Only 2 out of 20.”

Sadly, many Christians don’t know the rules, or they simply try to make up their own. Some even talk as though they have some special relationship with God which allows them to break the rules. There are even Christians who say things like, “God understands where I’m at right now, and I feel like I’m OK with him.”  If we are going to be really live the life God intended, we must, like athletes, compete according to the rules.

How deep is my devotion, how great my love for thee

Who gave Thy life to purchase, In penitence to me?

For I wold love and serve thee the way thou deepest best,

Since when I labour for Thee Am I most truly blest. Amen