Running the Race

I hereby dedicate this post to an All-American runner who placed 21st at the NAIA National Cross-Country competition in Vancouver over the weekend. Hip hip hooray for Maggie!

This, of course, came at a price: running long distances daily for years in all kinds of weather (mostly 90's and humid, since she lives in southeastern Tennessee), enduring a myriad of injuries and illnesses, learning good form, buying expensive gear, eating healthy (and expensive) food and lots of it, attending all the training sessions and races (no matter how she was feeling), running even on Christmas vacation in Wisconsin when it was frigid and icy. This is the price of winning.

Now hear what the apostle Paul says: For while bodily training is some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. . . . For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. . . . Practice these things, devote yourself to them. (1 Timothy 4:8, 10, 15a) I encourage you to read all of 1 Timothy 4:6-16 to see what exactly we are to put into practice.

I am certainly good, and I suspect you are too, at putting sin into practice. I actually have no problem doing that. What can I learn from my sin habits that will help me in my holiness practice? Repetition. Giving up other things. Doing it over and over and over (I have this part down).

So first, I give up the sin. As Kelly Minter says in The Fitting Room, I ought to "relinquish the old, starve the flesh, cease from certain practices." Then, by the power of the Holy Spirit and keeping my eye on the cross, I put on the new practices. And I do them over and over and over. I let the fruit of the Spirit grow in me, I spend time meditating on the Scriptures, I memorize, I pray, and I ask faithful friends to keep me on track.

And speaking of track, Maggie didn't get to Nationals by sitting around eating donuts, although a certain frozen yogurt shop saw quite a bit of her. She did what she didn't always want to do, she fought against her nature, she obeyed her coach, she tried to beat her teammates and a certain now-graduated runner from Shorter College.

Paul again: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13) Our salvation is sure; we must work to live as those who are saved, but not without leaning heavily into God who does His glorious work in us.

Congratulations, Maggie!!