Running the race

Good Morning Girls post today is all about running: I've adapted the thoughts:

1. It’s hard work- I’ll be honest, there were days I wanted to quit, but I’m so glad I didn’t.

2. I have to be intentional.  Running doesn’t just “happen”, nor does getting to know Jesus better.

3. It’s painful. The Word shows me parts of myself I didn't know I had and they ain't always pretty.

4. There are no short cuts- NONE. You have to put in the hard work.

5. It takes time. Time when, if I'm honest, I'd rather be reading a novel, or indulging in a hot bath, or... you get the laziness picture.

6. Having a goal to focus on is important. Perhaps a chapter to read, some verses to memorise, a bible study to attend or a morning set aside...

7. What I wear matters - I can’t run effectively wearing heavy clothes or carrying baggage…it just slows me down. I need to 'throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.'

8. Make sure I stay hydrated - with the Living Water. I can’t run my best race when my body is depleted.

9. It’s more fun to run with friends. We are made for community.

10. It’s important to have a training buddy - I know I would have quit if I didn’t have the accountability of my running buddy.

And so: Hebrews 12:1-3(NIV)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Not a 'Nowhere Man'...

Reading Isaiah 65 this morning, I found the words of John Lennon's 'Nowhere Man' running through my head:

He's a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody

Doesn't have a point of view
Knows not where he's going to
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen
You don't know what you're missing
Nowhere man, The world is at your command

He's as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere man, can you see me at all
Nowhere man don't worry
Take your time, don't hurry
Leave it all till somebody else
Lends you a hand

I wondered why.
Then I looked at the Isaiah passage again. God says:

“I’ve made myself available to those who haven’t bothered to ask.
I’m here, ready to be found by those who haven’t bothered to look.
I kept saying ‘I’m here, I’m right here’ to a nation that ignored me.
I reached out day after day to a people who turned their backs on me,
People who make wrong turns, who insist on doing things their own way...

But you who abandon me, your God, who forget the holy mountains,
Who hold dinners for Lady Luck and throw cocktail parties for Sir Fate,
Well, you asked for it. Fate it will be: your destiny, Death.
For when I invited you, you ignored me;
when I spoke to you, you brushed me off.
You did the very things I exposed as evil;
you chose what I hate.”

So there are consequences.

Those of us who follow Jesus do not have to fear - He has, by his grace, saved us as he does all who choose him - but this is still an encouragement to keep focused, to keep on 'running the race' as Paul did,

Going somewhere. Run with me.

The joy set before us

Still thinking about joy this morning. This is one of my all time favourite Bible quotes from Hebrews 12:2-3: Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

As The Message puts it:

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honour, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Joy!