3 Apr

I Hate Running

posted by Andrew Hebert

I hate running. I mean, why go out in the summer heat and beat it out on the pavement when you can sit at home, watch a movie and eat a huge bowl of ice cream? You can be healthy and exercise, but you’ll just die anyway. I’d rather die face-down in a plate of fudge! My wife, on the other hand, is another story. She very much enjoys running. In fact, the very first “date” we had was when she asked if I would accompany her while she ran in downtown Dallas, so she wouldn’t have to worry about being mugged or anything. The only reason I agreed was that I thought this would be the only way I could get to be around her, and I personally think she was using this as an excuse for the same thing, but she will never admit it. As soon as I knew that we had become an item, the running quickly stopped. Was I running with ulterior motives? Absolutely!

But even considering my distaste for running and the ulterior motives for doing so, one thing that my wife taught me about running has stuck with me. She said that when she was in cross country in high school, all of the runners were taught to keep their eyes on the runner ahead of them at all times. This allowed them certain advantages. First, it kept them from getting distracted by things going on around them and thus slowing down because of it. Second, for some reason, keeping your eyes on a runner in front of you makes you run faster yourself. On a subconscious level you start thinking of the race as a race between you and the person in front of you, thus creating a personal contest in which you can’t help but run faster. The same is true of horse racing. A horse is more likely to run faster if it is next to another horse, rather than being all by itself. Third, keeping your eyes on the runner in front of you gives you encouragement to keep running because you know that if that runner can make it so far, you can to.

This got me to thinking about Hebrews 12:1-3. The passage states that we are to run the race (that being the Christian life) with endurance. Some form of the word “endurance” is mentioned in every verse of that text. The author of Hebrews must have been like me and known how hard it is to run, so he says that the way we run should be with endurance. But then he describes how we are to run. First, he says that we must lay aside the sin which so easily drags us down. Just like a runner takes off all unnecessary clothing and weight, so we must also take off all of the sin that would keep us from running the race in the best way possible. Second, the author must have known about cross country running because he says that we are to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who was the forerunner of our faith. Jesus is the runner who is in front of us.

When we do this, the same three advantages that apply in cross country apply here. When we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who has run the race before us, it keeps us from getting distracted by things that can get us distracted from running and slow us down, be that a bad relationship, a pet sin, a job, or something else. It also allows us to run the race faster and with endurance because we are following in the footsteps of Jesus. Finally, we have encouragement to run the race before us, to tackle anything that comes our way, because we know that Jesus has already been there. That’s why the author says in verse 3, “consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

I have a choice of whether or not I go out and run today. But I do not have a choice of whether or not to run the Christian race. We are all running; the question is how well are we running? Let’s look to Jesus – it’s the only way we can cross the finish line.

Filed in: Choices, Discipleship, Journey

About the Author

Andrew Hebert is a student at Criswell College. He enjoys reading, eating Mexican food, watching the Houston Astros, and listening to any kind of music. He and his wife, Amy, reside in Dallas and are expecting their first child in June.