How To Run Well...Continued from page 5

As Christians, we must also seek a balance in both our physical ? and spiritual ? running. It's fine to enjoy the quiet solitude of running solo. But it's equally important to be encouraged and, at times, challenged by running with one or more friends. When we lack the latter, we can easily be discouraged by pain or problems that come our way and we simply quit. I know. Unlike that persevering freshman runner, when I ran a season of high school cross country I felt dissatisfied and discouraged by my lack of progress. Without goals or much guidance, I quit running altogether for over a quarter-century.

Just as beginning runners need fellow runners who will encourage them, we need mentors and models as we run the race of faith. Perhaps that is why the writer of Hebrews counsels us, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another ? and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Heb. 10:25). Perhaps that is why this writer points us not only to the example of our forerunners who patiently persevered, but especially to the encouragement we receive as we run with the Greatest Runner, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Hebrews 12:3 we read, "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men . . . " In the original text the word translated consider is the verb analogozomai. A brief glance at this Greek verb suggests its rich meaning, for from this root we also derive our word analyze. Louis Evans notes that "we are asked to take a hard, analytical look, make a complete analysis . . . one that determines how we will live."10

Why are we called to consider the Greatest Runner? The second part of verse 3 explains, " . . . so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." The promise is that we will not become depleted and discouraged if we realize and remember what the Lord has already accomplished on our behalf. Louis Evans observes that the Greek term for lose heart can also mean to unstring a bow, to quit or to let down.11

In the 1981 Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire, British sprinter Harold Abrams confided that he ran on sheer emotion and raw nerves with a burst of energy. This approach may work well for world-class sprinters, but it does not work well for running the race of faith. Those who try to power their Christian life on emotional intensity may be able to maintain a spiritual high for a while, but soon they burnout. Such runners in the journey of discipleship are illprepared for the long, arduous, often lonely and difficult stretches of road ahead.

Most of us know that the Christian life is more like an ultra-marathon run over winding, obstacle-laden mountainous trails, than like a 100-meter sprint run on a smooth, straight synthetic track. Jesus said, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). We need not grow weary or lose heart ? we can take heart because the Greatest Runner goes before us.

Harold Abrams was the 100 meter gold-medalist at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. However, months before the Olympic trials he agonized over his defeat at the hands of Eric Liddell. In his despair Abrams nearly quit running. But then he acquired a personal trainer who helped him regain his confidence and coached him to Olympic gold.

In running the race of faith, troubles, trials and testing are bound to come. Sometimes we can lose our direction, desire and discipline. That is why the writer of Hebrews challenges us to consider the Greatest Runner. We have been personally invited to train with him. He wants us to run the race of faith with his presence and power. He helps us to run well and finish strong. With an opportunity like that, what are we waiting for?

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Gary Bruland is Pastor of First Baptist Church in Howell, MI.

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1 Webster's Dictionary & Thesaurus, (New York: Book Essentials, 1988), p. 123.
2 Rodgers, Bill and Douglas, Scott. Bill Rodgers' Lifetime Running Plan, (New York: Harper Collins, 1996), p. 3.
3 Kubo, Sakae, A Reader's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), p. 232.
4 Kubo, p. 232.
5 Kubo, p. 232.
6 Rodgers and Douglas, p. 4.
7 Higdon, Hal and Daniels, Jack. "Training Secrets of the World's Best Coach". Runner's World (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, December 1996), p. 44.
8 Bruce, F.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), p. 321, note 190.
9 Kubo, p. 232.
10 Evans, Louis H. The Communicator's Commentary ? Hebrews, (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1985), p. 223.
11 Evans, p. 223.