run the race

I woke up today to the heartbreaking news of another man of faith, a church leader, who has walked away from God.

Plenty of blogs have been and will be written to explore the why’s and wherefores and there will be many opinions and conclusions in the weeks ahead. Lives are complicated and the reasons people walk away are varied.

Barnabas Piper posted this advice in response, ‘Every time a prominent Christian leaves the faith go find a story (or twelve) of unknown Christians being faithful in the midst of persecution and suffering.’

So instead of adding to the endless speculation of why someone falls away, I thought I would process my own feelings by celebrating faithful people I know.

Last week I had the privilege of listening to a young man named Ben Courson speak at a conference I was attending. Ben is the son of a well-known pastor in the US. It was a special moment for me because my dad knows his dad and so I was familiar with his story, which is a very difficult one. Ben’s sister died in a car accident when he was a young boy and he lost his older brother to cancer only last spring. Alongside the pressures of growing up as a Pastor’s kid, Ben struggled with depression for 10 years and had a heartbreak in his marriage that was devastating.

And yet Ben travels the world with the message of hope. He speaks to young people about a faithful God who holds onto us in the midst of tragedy and suffering. He talks about a faith that, ‘doesn’t always make sense but does make miracles.’ I don’t know if Ben ever considered giving up; I expect he did. But he is finishing his race with joy. He has wrestled with God, worked through his questions and doubts and allowed God to turn grief into a message that brings life to those who need it.

And I want to tell you about friends of ours, a young couple who felt called to serve in an extremely dangerous part of the middle east. They said yes to Jesus and spent the first years of their marriage preparing. They will not have children; their calling is too dangerous. The American dream for them was living on a boat in San Diego while they faithfully and quietly trained for the mission field. There were many setbacks and delays and discouragements but I have had the joy of sharing lunch with these precious servants of the Lord and I came away undone. They are the happiest couple you would hope to meet. Purpose infuses every word they speak and they think nothing of what they have given up to share God’s love with others.

And let me tell you about a faithful Pastor in Pakistan. My daughter’s fiance is from Pakistan and a few weeks ago my husband and I were at a barbeque with the two families and we had the privilege of meeting this family friend. He has attended dozens of Christian funerals after church attacks by extremists and his congregation has to have armed guards every Sunday. And yet the idea of not meeting together on a Sunday has never even crossed their minds. The faith of these precious followers and their commitment to each other is strong and resilient and it withstands challenges we have never faced.

And in my own family and church, there is such beautiful faithfulness. The quiet heroes I know ask for nothing in return and their names are not known beyond their small circles of influence. They run medical clinics without taking salaries and spend their vacations serving disabled children. They give up evenings to run Alpha groups, do marriage counselling for free and pray for the sick. They help troubled young people furnish their first homes and they preach to small congregations with loving preparation and excellence. They raise families and they serve their communities and churches without recognition.

And these stories are multiplied throughout the world where Christians are building hospitals and schools, campaigning to end slavery or equipping young offenders to lead successful and happy lives. These Christians don’t wait for governments to solve the problems; they get out there and work for solutions themselves with creativity and passion.

If I never fall away, it will be for two reasons; the grace of God and the amazing Christians I know.

Look around you this Sunday and see the faithfulness service of others. Be generous with your encouragement and miserly with your criticism. Pray for your leaders, thank those who serve your kids and have your worship leader over for dinner.

Then read about the persecuted church, if you dare. Pray or give or write a letter to one of these saints. These are our brothers and sisters, our family. They will be never be asked to speak at a conference or write a book and yet their faith is inspirational. They face things we cannot imagine and they need our love and support to carry on.

And decide that whatever else happens, you will be a person marked by faithfulness. Pray when you say you will; be there when you are needed. Don’t even think about missing church because someone needs you this Sunday. Be the one who happily chips in and helps out. In a world of fragile commitments, decide to be utterly dependable.

If you have questions, ask them; if you have doubts, work them through. Seek out godly mentors, read good books, worship, pray. Get truth in God’s Word. And then when it makes sense again, get back in the saddle and serve this broken world with everything you have.

Be faithful because He is faithful. Stay true and strong and finish the race with beautiful joy.

‘No life can surpass that of a man who quietly continues to serve God in the place where providence has placed him.’- Charles Spurgeon

There is one thing I know I am doing right.

That’s what the Apostle Paul tells the believers in Philippians 3.13.

I like Paul. He wasn’t afraid to use dramatic language when it was appropriate. Having spent the previous verses sharing how he was wrong for much of his life, how he had completely misunderstood who God was and what He was doing in the earth, he then boldly makes this statement:

‘I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing’ Phil. 3.12-13a (NLT)

And what is this one thing?

‘Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.’ Phil. 3.13b-14

Paul always shows us how to keep the main thing the main thing. And he says here that if we are Christians, this is a top priority.

It is interesting that he calls it ‘one thing‘ although it has two parts. There is forgetting what is behind us and then straining towards what is ahead. I wonder if Paul calls them ‘one thing’ because you can’t have one without the other.

Think about it. You can’t really strain forward if you are looking back, can you? It is pretty hard to focus on something you aren’t looking at. You can’t win a race facing the wrong way.

I should know, I have tried.

So often in my life I have attempted to follow Jesus with all my attention on the baggage I was dragging behind me. And so often my run has become a crawl. It was tiring and needlessly hard, frustrating and disheartening. Because it is hard to follow Jesus well with old thinking, old habits and old perspectives.

There are things I have to take off if I am serious about this race.

If you are a fan of elite sport, you will know how minute the margins are between winning and losing, often only fractions of a second. Olympic teams will have many experts working for them, looking for any tiny adjustment that can be made in technique or diet or equipment.

Paul describes it as, ‘bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing.’

That’s the only way to run this race well.

In Hebrews 12.1 we see the picture of a runner who is free and unencumbered. He is focused, lean and mean. Anything surplus to requirement has been discarded. He is single minded and he is ready for the start line.

But often in my life regrets, disappointment, hurt, brokenness and destructive ways of thinking and behaving have been like bungee cords that hampered my forward progress and eventually pinged me back into defeat. When I am not walking in repentance, forgiveness, mercy and grace I am not free to run well.

To move forward, I have to leave things behind.

And the reverse is also true. I cannot leave the past behind unless I am intentionally moving forward.

In my favourite passage in the Bible, Psalm 84, David says that ‘blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. They go from strength to strength. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.’

When we decide that our identity is that of pilgrims or travellers who are heading towards our home, then we will leave behind what we don’t need. There is a strength that comes when we focus on our destination and believe it to be all that really matters. There is a forward momentum that kicks in and propels us into all God has planned for us. He promises to withhold no freedom, no deliverance, no victory from those kind of followers.

In other words, if we keep going we will get there.

2 Corinthians 5.17 describes the very essence of the Christian life. ‘Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.’

Every day His mercies are new. New things are always coming, old things are passing away. This is the normal Christian life. We are constantly letting go and reaching forward at the same time. Sometimes the Holy Spirit shows us something that we have to leave behind. It can be painful but it always makes room for new blessings and revelation. Other times God encourages us to walk in a new way of thinking or living and in the process some old stuff just gets crowded out.

I want that heart, that outlook, every day of my life. I want the grace to keep straining, pulling, moving forward. I want to let go of anything that is holding me back or slowing me down. I want to shed my baggage, maybe close a door or two and I want to make space for God to do something new.

I want to make space for His will and His presence in my life.

I want to listen and obey. I want to know what really matters. I want to be facing the right way and I want to finish my race with joy. I want to make progress.

I want to be a pilgrim.