The Race of our Days

1 Corinthians 9:24 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. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

‘A gold medal for the winner’ we think as we watch the Olympics. One winner, two receive more also receive a medal from only a few qualify for the final race.

Many more have come to the great race with hopes of victory, yet most will return home in obscurity with only a brief memory of coming up short of the prize, the gold medal of victory.

From Rome Apostle Paul wrote back to believers in Corinth, a city just 131 miles [211 km] from Olympia. The Greeks, or Hellenists as they were called for centuries after defeat and domination under Rome, understood the imagery of the race – the race of life, even the race of eternity with distance we cannot see and a finish line known only to God.

A thousand years before Paul the powerful King Solomon of the empire of the the United Kingdom of Israel had written:

Ecclesiastes 9:

11 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man does not know his time.

“..time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. – Ecc. 9:11b-12

Perhaps you believe your life will be a marathon, even a marathon of drudgery or pain or defeat. Maybe you think your finish line is far distant. Perhaps. Yet think once more of what you know.

Do you know one who raced in life’s briefest of sprints? Were you startled at their sudden finish when they were no more?

The Race Toward Heaven

If you believe in the Lord God Almighty; if you believe that you were created for a purpose; then you seek the Kingdom of Heaven – the finish of life which ends in eternal reward.

Jesus was asked about about Heaven, about the course of our race of  this life. What glimpse of the finish has our Lord given us? What course has God laid before us until we breathe our last with some hope of gold?

If you could ask the Messiah of God, Christ Jesus a question about who God is going to save for eternal life wouldn’t it probably be something like this?

“Lord, will those who are saved be few?”

I’m not sure about you, but that’s what I think. I believe I am pretty special. (Maybe you do too.) Of course not everyone will be saved – most don’t want to be anywhere near God; but I do. You probably do too, as one of the few I believe Jesus will save.

So the man asks about the finals thinking, ‘How do we get to heaven?’ Jesus gives us a glance at the eternal finish.

Parable of the Narrow Door

Luke 13:

And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

I would wonder: Lord, do you mean it’s a door at the end of life – a finish where I cannot see what is on the other side?

25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

Shocking! I ‘go to church’ and work for charities. We give money to causes. Good people like us hope Jesus will save us… And Jesus answers, ‘I do not know you?’

26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’

27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’,

I thought all the good I was doing would get me the Gold medal… Hell! Not Heaven, Hell – I have had enough of that in this life and Jesus calls me a worker of evil. How does a sinner like me escape Hell and be welcomed in Heaven?

I have run the race…

Did I mention that Paul, the former Saul of Tarsus was a great sinner?

All of the Apostles including Paul preached repentance, true repentance and turning from what we were toward the sinless soul God wants us to be.

The grace of God’s mercy overflows in forgiveness found only in Christ Jesus.

You must be born again, sinless, in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you had a false start in this life? Do you truly desire another chance though our Lord Christ, Living and resurrected Son of God our Father? Here the encouragement of the writer of the letter to the Hebrews:

Hebrews 12:

… let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.- Heb 12:1b-2

6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. – Heb 12:11

So the great sinner who once persecuted and murdered follower of Jesus repented. Paul sought to live his new life in Christ Jesus in purity and sinlessness to his highest ability; yet humbly acknowledged the sinful nature of his own – the sinful nature of you as well… even the most sinful tendencies from which my own flesh must turn daily.

Paul states near the end of his life in a second letter to his successor Timothy, before being executed for his witness for Jesus Christ:

2 Timothy 4:

5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – 2 Tim 4:7

8 Henceforth 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.

The Gold Medal of Faith

Paul is telling Timothy about the gold medal, the crown given only to one who wins the race.

Do you stumble in the race of eternity?

Lay all of your earthly crowns at the feet of Jesus. He IS Lord; Who IS and was and will be the keeper of the door beyond the narrow gate?

Christ Jesus came into this world to crown sinners with grace – eternal life, His rich reward of God’s eternal love.

Beloved of Jesus, do not stumble; for He stands at the door with His crown of righteousness.