Let Nothing Hold You Back

I’ve read that a successful Olympic athlete will work out an average of four hours a day, 310 days a year for six years to prepare for competition. Olympic athletes have to be disciplined, because they’re competing for the gold.

On more than one occasion, the Bible uses the analogy of running a race. For the Christian, the race of life is knowing God and having a relationship with Him. But it isn’t enough just to run the race. We have to finish the race we’ve begun, and that takes discipline.

I know the trend today, especially among younger people, is to say that we don’t really have winners or losers. You get a participation trophy for just showing up. But that isn’t real life. We need to understand that in the race of life, there are winners and losers.

God wants us to win the race that we’re running right now. The Bible tells us, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 NLT).

We don’t want anything to hold us back. There are things that help us run faster, and there are things that stop us from making progress. But obeying the Lord isn’t a duty; it should be a delight.

I’ve met runners who enjoy running. Sometimes after they go for a run, they’ll say, “That was a great run!” I’ve never had a great run, by the way. I’m always looking forward to when it ends.

But if you’re walking with the Lord, if you’re running your race for Him, then you’ll discover there’s joy in it. So run to win.