We sometimes get discouraged along the way in the process of living life. We can sometimes feel like continuing on in our quest isn’t worth our while. It’s important that we keep going and not let discouragement get the better of us. We know from experience, however, that this isn’t always easy.
Think of this metaphor. Imagine somebody in a track and field race. The gun is fired but they don’t get a very good start. Everyone else gets a little bit of a head start on them as a result. So, they keep going for a while, but they start thinking about how bad their start was and just how much that is going to affect their finishing well. So, they end up quitting and just walking over and sitting in the stands with the crowd. It’s kind of funny to think about, but sometimes we allow this to happen to us.
The interesting thing is, while that person’s start in the race can certainly have implications later on, they are overlooking a lot of other factors in the race. For example, their skill level is important to consider. They may be one of the best runners in the state and be able to overcome that gap. They’re also making a lot of assumptions about the other runners in the race. How do they know that any of the other runners won’t want fall behind somewhere in the race? Different runners have different spots in a race where they excel and areas where they don’t. Some runners start strong, but may fade in the distance. Other runners may be more affected by the weather, but that may not have as much of an effect on you. So, there are a lot of things to consider. That gap may not be as impossible to overcome as it may appear.
I remember saying something when joking around with my brother once. I mistakenly said, “Why don’t you start what you finish?” That’s a mind bender isn’t? Since you couldn’t finish something if you’ve never started, it’s a foregone conclusion that if you finished something, at some point, you had to start it. Anyway, the point is to not get too focused on the start. I guess in that statement I got too focused on the start myself.
The important thing to remember is that we can easily get too focused on our start and not realize we have an entire race still in front of us. A lot can happen in that time in between start and finish. We don’t win or lose a race in the first 5 seconds. Give yourself the opportunity to get over a bad start. We don’t know how it will end up if we just keep going. We do know, however, how it will end up if we just quit. So, don’t go sit in the stands in the middle of the race.
Galatians 5:7 says, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” In Paul’s letter to the Galatians he actually commends them for running well. Once they learned the liberty they had in Christ they were doing well. They got tripped up, though, when they ended up returning to their legalistic practices. Galatians 4:9 says, “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” They were running well, but then they wanted to return to the way they were when they started. They were really focused on thinking about how they started.
Galatians 5:1 says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Paul admonished the Galatians to remain in the liberty Jesus had provided for us. He knew that they, and likewise ourselves, can’t move forward if we return to a legalistic mindset. God has so much more for us. It’s often easier to get stuck in what we know. Learning a different way can sometimes be difficult. That’s what life is about, though. Learning.
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Christ has given us a liberty to run this race of life with confidence. We can be confident and run with nothing holding us back, not even our flawed start. It’s what we do in the middle part and leading up to the end that counts.
Paul was confident in the knowledge of the way he had run his race. 2 Timothy 4:7 says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith:” Paul certainly knew he had made some mistakes. He had started out in the wrong way. He didn’t get stuck on that, though. He made some changes and adjustments in his life as he allowed the Holy Spirit to work in his life. God led him in a new direction from the way he started out. This resulted in him writing 2/3 of the New Testament and helping countless others in their walk with Christ. I’m certainly glad Paul didn’t get stuck on the way he started out. He kept his eyes focused on the finish. When we look at his life, that’s a pretty good finish.
Galatians 5:7 says, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?”
Galatians 4:9 says, “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?”
Galatians 5:1 says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
2 Timothy 4:7 says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith:”