Page 25 - September 2023 - Truth & Tidings

constraints he put on his life because of run? First, we must lay aside every hinder-
his ministry and now exhorts the Corin- ing weight. Runners strip any impediment
thians to run – living the Christian life as that restricts their progress. The writer
an athlete with only one prize to win. The points to sin as the encumbering agent
winner of the Isthmian Games in Corinth that besets us. Ridout suggests things are
received a quick-decaying laurel wreath, “weights or wings”; sin is a weight which
but the believer strives for an incorruptible begins in the heart before becoming exter-
crown. Paul calls the Corinthians to be like nal. It hampers our endurance to run the
2
him and to live their lives with focus. Paul race set before us. To run efficiently, we
knew he could be rejected from receiving must not gloss over sin but must cast it
the crown reward though he was a promi- away from our lives.
nent preacher. The chief encouragement is that the man
In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul highlights Jesus, “the leader and completer of faith,”
causes for disqualification – not lost salva- has gone before us (v2 JND). He always
tion but lost reward – with the Israelites in trusted God through the abuse, cruelty,
the wilderness as examples. He first points mocking and darkness of Calvary with the
to the spiritual privileges the Israelites joy set before Him in His mind. We should
enjoyed, yet he writes the startling state- be encouraged, like the Hebrews, to run
ment, “Yet God was not pleased with the and not be weary in following Christ’s
most of them, for they were strewed in the example of endurance.
desert” (v5 JND). Due to several failures, 2 Timothy 4 – The Finishing Stretch
almost every Israelite never enjoyed the
future blessing God desired to bestow Seeing the finish line after a long race is
on them. Paul saw the Corinthians as no reinvigorating. As Paul writes to Timothy
different. Their idolatry, lax morals, desire in his last letter, he acknowledges that
for evil, temptation of Christ, and mur- the finish is just ahead. Paul uses several
muring would result in disqualification metaphors in these verses to describe his
along the path of their lives and coming life and death. In verse 6, he is a drink of-
short of obtaining an incorruptible crown fering, poured out in death in worship to
for faithfulness to God and self-control. A God. Perhaps Paul is thinking of his life as
believer must run within the rules or miss the daily burnt offering whose last action
out at the Judgment Seat. was to pour out its libation (Num 28:7).
Hebrews 12 – Hindrance, Endurance and Also, in verse 6, possibly surrounded by
soldiers, he thinks of himself as the soldier
Motivation about to be released. In verse 7, he is the
God calls the Christian to run a race wrestler or boxer who has endured. And
that is not short or easy. The writer to the he is the runner finishing the race; he has
Hebrews addresses professing believers in kept the faith. Because of the grace of God
chapter 11 and provides God’s highlights in his life, Paul sees a victor’s crown of
of men and women who were faithful in righteousness being given him from the
monumental moments during adversarial righteous Judge. It is a crown for all who
times. The writer says, “Let us run” (12:1). love His appearing.
Despite the adversities, others – a cloud of
witnesses – also ran the race. ² Samuel Ridout, quoted in William R.
Newell, Hebrews: Verse by Verse (Chicago, IL:
How were they – and how are we – to Moody Press, 1947), 400.

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