Tag Archives: Race

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Run for Him

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Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. —Hebrews 12:1

When I was in high school, I was a fast sprinter. Most people could not beat me in a short sprint, but I was not good at long distance runs. I would have a burst of energy that I could kind tap into and really take off. (Today I am not even a good sprinter. I’m really not good at any kind of running.) One thing I discovered back then as a member of the track and field team was that I always did better in practice when there was an audience. All of a sudden I would feel a little more energetic, especially when there was a pretty girl watching.

As Christians in the race of life, we, too, have an audience: the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 12 reminds us, “Since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith” (verses 1–2).

Let us run with endurance . . . keeping our eyes on Jesus. You see, the Christian life is not a sprint; it is a long distance run. So we have to think of the big picture.

Here is how to run the race well. Here is how to run it according to the rules. Here is how to run it with joy. Run it for Jesus. Don’t run it for people to impress them. Don’t run it out of mere duty. You have an audience of one: Christ Himself is watching you. Run for Him. It will help you do much better.

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Finish with Joy

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“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” —Psalm 51:12

Some Christians have lost their joy. They started off the Christian life with joy, but then something happened. They just lost interest in the things of God. They still do the things they should as a Christian, but they are just going through the motions. And they are not very happy about it.

Instead of saying like David did in Psalm 122:1, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the LORD,’ ” they would say, “I was mad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the LORD.’ ” Church again? Okay. All right. Another Bible study? Okay. Fine.

Paul told the elders of the Ephesian church that he wanted to finish his race with joy (see Acts 20:24). When you start a race, you don’t always think about the finish, but you should. The finish is the most important part—not the start. You can have a bad start and still finish well. I don’t care how great of a start you had. I don’t care if you were leading the pack for nine laps out of ten. If you collapse and fall, then it doesn’t matter. You are just tired, and it all was for nothing. Finishing is everything. And Paul was talking about finishing his race well, about finishing it with joy.

You don’t know how long your life will last. That is why you want to run this race well and run it with joy. The objective is to finish.

Have you lost your joy in the Christian life? Then pray, like David, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit” (Psalm 55:12). Don’t just start your race well. Finish it well. Finish it with joy.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Run by the Rules

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I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. —1 Corinthians 9:26–27

I read an article about a British runner named Rob Sloan who finished third in the Kielder Marathon in the UK. Sloan burst across the finish line with a time of 2:51:00. But everyone noticed that he had so much energy and hardly any sweat while the others runners were exhausted. As it turned out, he ran most of the race but then left the course at mile 20 and caught a shuttle bus the rest of the way. As the leading runners were heading toward the finish line, he trotted out of the forest and onto the race route. But it wasn’t long before the race organizers found out what had happened, and Sloan was disqualified. He didn’t run according to the rules.

When you are running a race, you have to run by the rules, and you are told what those rules are from the beginning. In the same way, in the race of life we must play by the rules—God’s rules. The apostle Paul said, “I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:26–27).

As we run, we have to run according to God’s rules. We don’t make up the rules as we go. We don’t say, “Well, I don’t agree with this rule, so I am not going to live by it.” If that is how we run our race, then we will be disqualified because that is not how it works. God is the one who sets up the rules. We are the ones who need to run by them.

Are you running by the rules? Or, are you facing disqualification?