Run Well
Have you ever thought about what it takes to run well? Unless you are an avid runner, most of us would answer, “no.” I certainly would have that answer.
When we are young, running is something we simply do. We don’t think about whether we do it well or not. Later in life when running disappears from our repertoire of ways to move, the only thing we think about running is that we don’t do it anymore.
I’m one of those who never enjoyed running just to run. If running was involved in a sport I enjoyed, that was another story. Then I’d do my best to run well. To make it around the bases safely in softball or to get the ball down the court for a basketball goal. But to run just for the sake of running made no sense to me.
So what does running have to do with life? Why even discuss it? Some people enjoy running. Others don’t. What’s the big deal?
Running the Race of Life
God wants us to run well. Not physically run, but run as a metaphor for the way we live our lives before Him.
As we begin a new year, I look back on the past year. Sometimes my mind wanders to the last several years or decades. Have I grown in my walk with the Lord? Am I running the race He has for me well? Will He be able to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” when He takes me Home?
Life these days seems more complex and difficult than in years past. Technology has our heads spinning with an overabundance of information. Differing opinions about truth cause division among believers as never before. Wars and rumors of war stay in the headlines leaving everyone on edge wondering what tomorrow will hold.
So how am I to live today? What should I do in order to run well?
Humble Ourselves Before God
Micah 6:8 tells us:
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
YHWH is God. He created all things and is just and merciful. It makes sense that He wants His creations to walk in the same way. Showing justice and mercy to each other.
Sadly, mankind’s instincts are such that being just and merciful is not our way. We are selfish at the core. We love others to extend mercy to us, but are slow to show mercy to them.
And thus God makes His last statement in Micah 6:8.
“Walk humbly with your God.”
In order for me to run well, I need to first learn to walk humbly with the Creator of the universe. To recognize His Sovereignty and my place before Him.
In James 4:10, we read, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
And in Isaiah 40:31, we’re told,
But those who wait on the LORD (YHWH)
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Step one to running well, then, is to bow before the Almighty and wait on Him. To recognize He alone is the One Who gives us breath and life and is the One Who gives us strength to run the race He has for us.
Love Truth
Step two in running well involves loving truth.
Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10,
The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
The phrase, “they did not receive the love of the truth,” caught my attention a few days ago. These are described as the ones who perish, making loving truth imperative for us to run well.
While Jesus walked on the earth, He told His disciples He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). And in John 8:32, Jesus said to Jews who believed Him, “the truth shall make you free.” Without Jesus, the One Who is the truth, we aren’t free from the bondage of sin and can’t run our race well.
Today you can find someone who will say whatever it is you want said. Unless we want to know truth and are willing to humble ourselves before the Holy One, we will be deceived. God’s arch enemy goes about seeking whom he may devour. He is a liar and the father of lies. He hates truth and desires to take as many of us down with him as possible. Loving and knowing truth is what allows us to recognize lies when we hear them and keep from being sidetracked in our race by deception.
So how do we know truth from lies?
We turn to God’s word.
God’s Word is Truth
The Psalmist said in Psalm 119:160,
The entirety of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.
And before Jesus’ crucifixion, He prayed for all who would believe in Him, asking the Father to “sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
If we want to run well, we need to feed on the word of God. Daily. Deeply.
Psalm 1:1-2 says,
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the LORD (YHWH),
And in His law he meditates day and night.
And in 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul writes to his young protege, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
There is so much to say about knowing God’s word it’s impossible to include it in one blog post. But the Psalmist made it clear how much we need God’s word when he said, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11).
What God speaks He says for a reason. He made us, and He knows us. He knows our weaknesses, and He desires to be our strength. He speaks truth which is our best weapon against the enemy who lies. Knowing God’s word allows us to walk uprightly and to run our race well.
Conclusion
As we head into a new year, my prayer for each of us is that we will do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with the Almighty. That we will love truth and be diligent to know our God by spending time with Him in His word. God’s promises are true. And He says if we seek His kingdom first, all the other things we need will be provided for us (Matthew 6:33).
This year, may we choose to get to know our God better and trust Him for what the days ahead will hold. May we spend time with Him in His word so He can show us truth, knowing His truth will set us free. As this is done, we’ll be able to run the race of life God has for each of us. And run it well.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
(Scripture: New King James Version; Photos: Taken by Carolyn Thigpen, Tribble Mill Park, Georgia; Related posts: Knowing God)
