As Paul neared the end of his life, he wrote, ‘…I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord…will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.’

(2 Timothy 4:7-8). Why did Paul use this metaphor of running a race for the Christian life? 

It’s not because he wants us to think that we are in competition with each other for the prize, because he says the crown of life is for all who have longed for the appearing of the Lord. Paul compares the Christian life to running the race because, like athletes who compete, we need to be trained and equipped to run the race of life well, and with endurance. If an athlete hasn’t trained well, then they will fall at the first hurdle or collapse from exhaustion.

So, what does the Bible say we should do in order to run well? The writer of Hebrews tells us that we need to ‘…lay aside…the sin that clings so closely…’ (Hebrews 12:1) because it weighs us down. God tells us to throw off sin because he loves us, not because he’s out to spoil our fun, but because he wants what is best for us and those around us.  

However, he doesn’t expect us just to throw off our sin, he tells us to look to Jesus who is ‘the pioneer and perfector of our faith’ (v.2), or ‘the author and finisher of our faith’ as in the NKJV. Jesus is the reason we are running the race: he started our faith, and he promises to perfect our faith, by helping us throw off what is hindering us.  

When we see an athlete running a race, they have their eyes totally focused on what is ahead, on the finish line they are running towards. In the same way, we are to keep our focus on Jesus. He is the one who died forgiving all our sin so that we can have the prize of salvation, the crown of eternal life.  

Jesus is the one who promises to give us all we need to run well, so the best thing for us is to do whatever it takes to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus: to keep trusting in him and in his goodness and love for us; to keep thanking him for what he has done in our race so far, and to keep asking him to help us as we keep on running.

That way we will be able to say, along with Paul, ‘I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness…’

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead 
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:  
wordoflife@gracecom.church