Thursday, March 2, 2023

In my younger years, I was an athlete. I played football, baseball, basketball, softball, and wrestled. The one thing I didn’t do was track. I am not a runner—I don’t like to run, I don’t enter marathons, and I prefer not to engage in any sessions on a treadmill. I will happily take walks or ride my bike, but please don’t ask me to run—unless my life depends on it.

While I am not a runner, I know people who are and have noticed a distinct difference between athletes who run races and athletes who play other sports. Most athletes want the extra muscle mass and strength when they perform. When I was training for wrestling, I would wear ankle weights while doing leg lifts to build even more muscle. While runners are strong and muscular in their own way, when it comes time to race, they want to be as light and lean as possible to increase their endurance.

Running the race of life can be very similar—we need to strip off the extra weight in order to run our best race. “What weight?” you ask.

Hebrews 12:1
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.

When we let our past sins, guilt, and shame weigh us down, it makes it much more difficult to run the race God intends for us to run. We need to unload all of these burdens to Jesus, who gave his life for exactly that purpose.

In his weekend message, Andy talked about how runners focus on the end goal, the finish line. Similarly, the distractions and temptations of this world can easily pull our focus away from our ultimate prize. But if we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can overcome the distractions and temptations.

Doing these things will lighten our loads and help us run the race of life with confidence and steadfast endurance, eventually achieving that sometimes elusive goal we so desperately seek.

Lighten the load, and I’ll see you at the finish line!

Questions:
Are you running the race of life with burdens that are weighing you down?

Are you familiar with the promises God makes in his Word to help us during our time on earth?

Next Steps:
Give your burdens to Jesus. His shoulders are much stronger than yours.

Text the word “Promises” to 419-419-0707 to get a list of the promises God makes to us in the Bible.

Prayer:
Father God, I truly want to win the race of life here on earth. I know I cannot do that without lightening my load of sin and guilt. I give that to you now and ask you to give me courage and strength, so that I can maintain focus on you and not the distractions of this world. I desire to reach the ultimate finish line and hear the words, “Well done, my child, you have run a good race.” In the name of your precious Son, Jesus, amen!

Series Theme Verse:

2 Peter 1:4
And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.