Jesus Is Better
A marathon runner named Rob Sloan spent months tirelessly practicing for the Kielder marathon in the United Kingdom. He trained hard, practiced the grueling route, and loaded up on carbs before the big race. The gunshot summoned the beginning of the race as hundreds of eager runners took off — Rob included. When all was said and done, he wore a bronze medal around his neck.
There was just one problem. He didn’t actually run the full race. Rob jumped on an air- conditioned bus after the gunshot. He sat in a cushioned seat for miles before the bus dropped him off just before the finish line. He hid in the woods before running across the finish line neck-and-neck with the front-runners of the race. His medal was revoked, and he apologized.
Hebrews compares our Christian life to a marathon. Chapter twelve opens, “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” (12:1). In life, we will inevitably get exhausted, tired, or even experience a tumble onto the concrete. All of those things are expected, but they’re not reasons to give up.
We often get tired because we are trying to carry too much. If you want to finish faithfully, then you need to drop whatever is weighing you down. You wouldn’t run a marathon with a forty-pound backpack on your shoulders, so why do we do the same in our lives? Stop trying to carry unnecessary baggage during our marathon of life. If you want to run through the tape at the finish line, you need to let go of anything holding you back.
Let go of dangerous cycles. Let go of unhealthy relationships. Let go of other’s expectations. Let go of anything that is preventing you from spiritually thriving in this life.
On the Christian journey, you need to travel light.