Give me a word, Lord: MOVING TOWARD THE FINISH LINE

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God.

Acts 17:28 For in him we live and move and have our being.’

Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

A few years ago, I decided that I was going to run my first 5K. Let me begin by saying that it wasn’t a very smart idea to decide to run my first 5K in my early 40s! As with anything I do though, I began training with all that I had. I started running back and forth to Pop Hill Road which is 3.2 miles roundtrip from my house. I ran 5-6 mornings per week for over 3 months. The big day finally came, and I ran the race. It was a June morning in Mississippi. The humidity was about 499%, and it was so HOT! I thought I would die, but that little voice in my head kept pushing me on to the finish line. I actually won first place in my age group, but I was by no means first. The guy that finished first beat me by a whole seven minutes! That 5K taught me two things. First of all, I don’t like running. Give me a fast paced walk any day of the week, and I’m your girl, but running, no thank you! Second, I am not a quitter. I kept running forward even though it was hotter than blue blazes, and I thought I might literally melt into the asphalt, but I didn’t quit. I finished. I got the prize., and now it’s collecting dust somewhere upstairs.

Sometimes in life we have trouble moving forward. We get caught up in our past, and we keep revisiting the old. Don’t get me wrong, reminiscing can be a joyful thing to do, but we can’t live there in our past. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut. We feel like we’ve messed up so bad that we can’t dig our way out. Or perhaps we feel like the sin we are in is too big or too bad to move away from. Maybe we think that we’ve messed our lives up so bad that God doesn’t want us anymore. Well, my friend, let me tell you, we can not do anything that can’t be forgiven by our loving Father except denying Him.

We have to move forward by becoming mature followers of Christ. We must recognize our sins, admit them, and ask repentance. When we do this, we truly move forward, and we must continue in that forward movement towards the finish line. Life is one great big adventure, but it’s not just an adventure. Every day is a new opportunity to get things right, a new opportunity to serve Christ, and another chance to learn more about Christ and to grow closer in our walk with Him. With each passing day that our wonderful God creates, we are given one more chance to move forward towards Him, and one more chance to move closer to the finish line. My goal now is making it to the eternal finish line: heaven. I already know I won’t be first. It’s not that kind of race. I do want to finish well though. I want to arrive at those pearly gates knowing that I trained well here on earth, I studied the Word, I shared the gospel, and I served my Lord and Savior. It seems that everything in life is a race, but there is only one race that has eternal consequences. Are you running towards Christ today? I can hardly wait to get to that finish line! Oh, what a prize that will be!