Running the Race

“Run in such a way as to get the prize."

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

When our children were young we would attend a Christian family camp for a week every

summer. Wednesday was Lake Day-a day filled with water play and friendly, organized competitions in which the winners were awarded “valuable cash prizes” (mugs, sunglasses, visors, etc.) My older son and I first participated in the kayak races when he was 5 years old. It did not go well. Having never run, or observed the race before, we plopped down into the narrow boat designed for one person, and set off for the lifeguards, who were standing at a further point in the lake– at which point we would reverse direction, going backwards and ending on shore. Cold water drenched us, screaming voices surrounded us, and my shivering, confused son was crying furiously. We did not even place. It was not a good time.

After that race, and also the following summer, I began to observe how the winners ran their

race, and noted that some wise women began the race on their knees. This position not only gave us better balance, but our arms reached deeper and we could move more of our upper body into our stroke.

A few years later my younger son (having turned 5 that year) wanted to be in the race .

I showed him how to cup his hand so as to push against the water more effectively. He practiced this and then held his hand up for me to see: “Like this mama?” I said “ Yeah, like this,” and held up my hand for him to see. “No mama, like this?” he said insistently, showing me his well cupped hand. I said yes, and demonstrated with my hand once again. This was frustrating him and I finally realized that he wanted me to affirm the shape of his hand, not compare his to mine.

As I “positioned” (wrestled) him onto his knees in the kayak, I explained that in this position he

would be more in control of pushing against the water, and we would not get nearly so wet, as the water would go away from us rather than on us.. I rationalized these instructions as giving him a better chance at winning .(I, of course, am not competitive…)

We kept our heads down, so visually we were only aware of when we were to change

directions. Otherwise, I noticed no one, and therefore was also unaware of my own place in the race. My concentration was completely on the strength of my stroke. All of my energy was in the moment, doing the best I could. I started to tire at the end, but when I heard my husband’s loud cheers, I dug in again and put in all I had until I felt the boat bank. As my husband helped us out of the kayak, we were told that we had won!. Silly as it may seem, I was filled with such delight.

Even greater was my pride in how my son had run the race and his victorious, “You couldn’t have done it without me, Mom!”

Paul’s purpose in writing these verses is to emphasize how important it is to battle effectively against sin and the very real struggles that can overtake, discourage, or defeat us.

There is a special way of running in order to obtain the prize. Running for the prize means

running with full exertion. We require the spirit’s taming over those areas that are not part of our nature. The attributes of Jesus (Paul’s fruit of the spirit in Galatians 22-23–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control) do not of course come to us naturally. This is why Paul was fond of portraying the Christian life as strenuous exercise, a race to be won, a battle to be fought, especially against himself. We are not to suppose victory came to him suddenly, in a moment. Instant attainment was out of the question.Not before the end of his earthly career would he have reached the goal towards which he pressed to receive "the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus”.

When my older son and I began our race, we were inexperienced. We had no information on

how the race was to be run. We were sitting in a relaxed attitude, one in which we had no

leverage, and were easily distracted. Water (life) began pouring into the kayak due to our

ineffective positioning of ourselves.

We must begin on our knees. Start each day, and move through the moments of life in prayer. This positioning of ourselves, not necessarily literally, but in a heart attitude in the perspective of our omniscient Creator, makes us more receptive to God’s wisdom, counsel, and revelation. Give the Holy Spirit time to speak to your heart, as we are so easily distracted; pray to be absorbed in our Lord and His work.

Affirm the shape of one another’s hands. We are not to compare our race to another’s, as Christ is the designer of our course, but we are to help one another and be accountable. We are to examine our race—what do our hands look like? Are they shaped in such a way as to put us at an advantage in running the race?—and take these questions to the Lord in prayer. As David cried out in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

When I heard my husband’s cheers, I felt such encouragement to put more effort into the final moments, digging deeper for resources I thought were spent.

We are to encourage and affirm one another in our walk with God; this not only strengthens the individual but the entire body through mentoring relationships, studying God’s word, praying for one another, and sharing questions, answers, insights, struggles, suffering, and victories.

When my sweet boy declared “you couldn’t have done it without me mom!” I admit to feeling indulgent and amused, happy that I had been able to give him this feeling of pride. But the Lord revealed to me that by running his race well, by taking seriously the course set before him, my son had enabled me to experience winning the prize. We do this for one another. By focusing on the course set before us , our relationship with the living Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, the strength of our race encourages and enables others to run well, to win the prize.

This is not about what we should do for one another, it is about the certainty that our Christ

directed course yields for the body of believers a strength of direction and the assurance of

victory.. And what is our victory? An ever present desire to seek His face to “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:18) . The prize—eternal life!

Count it all JOY!