Run With Perseverance by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

Questions for Lisa:

What do you do to train for a marathon? Does in involve more than just running?

12 – 14 weeks of changing diet, sleep routine, social life. You have to get up early to run before the sun gets too hot, or change your plans around for the day, because after running a couple of hours, you may not be able to do what you planned earlier. I can’t eat the greasy brats and adult beverages at cookouts, because I have to get up the next day and run.

When you are running the marathon, and you are exhausted, and you want to quit, how do you keep going?

Most people don’t set out to fail; you have to trust your training. When you’re hurting, you think about how hard you’ve worked and have faith and keep going.

Have you ever come close to quitting?

In Boston, I was miserable about mile 17. I walked until I felt better and then picked it up. It helps to know people are waiting at the finish for you, cheering you on. Every time I’ve started a marathon, I’ve finished.

It can be said that living the life of a Jesus follower is like training for a marathon and then running it. First you have to set some priorities. Lisa said that when she trains for a marathon it affects her exercise routine, (of course), but also her diet, her sleep patterns, and even her social life. Pretty much everything else in her life is driven by the fact that she wants to run a marathon. She sets all of her priorities around accomplishing the running of the marathon. She gives up some things, at least for a season, so that she can accomplish this thing. Of course she keeps working her job. She is in a relationship so she gives attention to that relationship, but her big priority is training for the marathon.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says that being a follower of Jesus is like running a race. We want to finish the race. That means we want to end our lives having lived our lives in the way that God desired. We want to look back at the end of our lives and be able to say, “I did my best to follow Jesus. I ran a good race. I did not give up.”

So in order to run this race of being a Jesus follower, we need to train, just like a marathon runner. We need to set some priorities, and live them out. So today I have some questions for us, about our priorities.

What priorities do we have in life and how are they guided by the fact that we are followers of Jesus? First there is our time. How do we spend our time? Do we spend our time doing things that draw us closer to Jesus and to Jesus’ desires for us? This does not mean that we have to sit and pray 24 hours a day, though it is good to pray for some time each day.

It does mean that we ask ourselves: am I spending my time the way God would want me to spend my time? Am I getting enough rest so that I can be alert and ready to serve God throughout the day? During the day, am I using my time to serve God? Am I doing things that build up others? Am I an encourager? Am I doing things to make the world a better place? Am I using my gifts to make a difference in the world? How we spend our time is an indicator of how seriously we take our commitment to be followers of Jesus. Just like the marathon runner makes it a priority to schedule time for training runs, the Jesus follower uses his or her time to serve God.

Another priority is our relationships.  Are we giving priority to relationships that will encourage us in our life as a Jesus follower? Are you spending time with other Jesus followers? Do you have a mentor in the faith, someone who has been down this road longer than you, who can advise and encourage you? If not, can you think of someone who could fill that role for you?

Are you mentoring someone else? Someone who is newer in the faith than you? Are you giving time to that person?

This fall we are going to start some groups we are going to call Centering Groups. They will be for the purpose of being in relationship with others who are serious about growing as followers of Jesus. You are all invited to be in a group. The groups are modeled after groups that John Wesley started with the Methodist movement back in the 1800s and during that time, the Methodist Church was on fire. We will do our own version of these groups to be culturally relevant for the 21^st century. The idea is this: we will get together every week or two and ask the question: where have you seen God at work this week? And how is it with your soul? We will encourage one another in our spiritual life. We will pray together. We will be in relationship. I encourage you to consider joining one of these Centering Groups when we announce them. Let me know today after worship if you are interested. Because, you see, making relationships with other followers of Jesus a priority will help us have the life God intends for us.

The Book of Hebrews was written to early Christians who were being persecuted for practicing their faith. The writer was telling them to persevere. Thankfully, in our country, we do not suffer religious persecution. But we still have to be strong and persevere so that we can be the people God created us to be. It’s easy for us to get off track.

The writer of Hebrews says that once you start running you must never quit. It’s like Lisa describing the decision to run a marathon. Once you start, you have made a commitment. You can’t stop. You must follow through.

Next, the writer says, we can’t have any extra spiritual fat and no parasitic sins. This means everything in our life must be focused on the race of living for God. We can’t be weighed down by sin. Sin is simply defined as anything that pulls us away from God. So if we are going to run the race with God then we have to be in line with God and not get off track. You know what pulls you into sin. You know what distracts you and pulls you away from God’s desire for you. A runner stays on a strict training regimen. In the same way, because we are followers of Jesus, we are called to stay on a strict life regimen, focused on the lifestyle that keeps us in line with God and not falling into habits that take us away from God.

Then the writer of Hebrews encourages us to stay in the race by keeping our eyes on Jesus, because he began and finished the race that we are in. He came and lived on this earth. Jesus had the task of living the life that God desired for him. His life was much more challenging than ours; he was called to go to the cross. But of course because he did that. He was faithful, and he was raised from the dead and now he lives in glory with God. That story, when we hear it, says the writer of Hebrews, will shoot adrenaline into our souls. (at least that is how The Message Bible interprets that line of scripture). The story inspires us to live our lives for God.

The idea is this: each one of us has a life that is like a race set before us. Jesus ran his race and he ran it well. He served God and he served God well and in the end Jesus was raised to eternal life.

We are followers of Jesus. Sometimes the race of our lives get hard. We wonder, “Is God still with us? Are we still on the path with God?” That is the time to persevere. It may be time to make a course correction. Maybe you have taken a wrong turn and you need to get back on the path God has in mind for you. That’s a good time to pray and ask God for direction.

But the point is this: stay the course. Do not give up. God never gives up on us. NEVER. So just like the marathon runner does not give up, even if it means walking across the finish line, we never stop following Jesus and living the life God desires for us. We run the race. Because running the race, means living our lives with God. And we want to live with God, so let’s do it. Amen.