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. Heb 12:1 (NLT)
Running Shoes – Part 1
Jesse (husband) loves running. Every second day, he gets up before the sun and sets off down the road. Running keeps him fit, clears his head and gives him space to re-calibrate his heart and mind. A few weeks ago he ran in one of Sydney’s most popular race, “the City to Surf.” He trained hard in order to beat the time he ran last year… which he did! Unlike Jesse, I’ve never been much of a runner. Whenever I “give it a go,” I don't get far before I keel over, certain that I’m having a heart attack and wanting to vomit up everything I’ve eaten in the past week. Ha!! While Jesse was running the ‘City to Surf,’ I was in a little cafe sipping a latte.
It’s hard to run a race with endurance, and enjoy it, when you’re weighed down and struggling to breathe. You wouldn’t attempt a marathon if you’re unfit (why I'm not running the ‘City to Surf') and didn’t have the appropriate gear. Many of us live our lives like this on an internal level. Life goes by at a screaming pace, and if we’re not attentive, we end up neglecting the health of our hearts and souls. We get weighed down with the situations and circumstances we face in life; our ability to endure hardship, love our enemies, forgive those who’ve hurt us, ask for forgiveness ourselves, handle success well, navigate failure with wisdom… all these things and more, the muscles of our inner selves, begin to weaken and lose their fitness and endurance if we don't give them the attention they need.
We need to take the time to stretch into our life, to build our strengths and attend to our weaknesses. Almost 12 months ago, while out running, Jesse injured his knee. He found that he could run for about 2km, but after that, the pain in his knee would escalate to excruciating. He had to take it easy for a couple of months and stretch out his knee. After adjusting his run style, and nurturing his injury, he was running pain-free within a few months.
Sometimes when we're injured in life, wounded, betrayed, hurt and broken, the temptation is to stop running. To sit on the sidelines. Allow our pain and heartache to direct our future. And the same can be said of the times when we are the ones who injure and hurt and make mistakes and fail and sin. The shame of it wants us to run away and cover up our brokenness.
Paul wrote to his friends in Rome, friends who had been the receivers and instigators of pain, and said, “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One.” (Rom 8:1 PT).
Jesus said to the woman whom the Pharisees had caught in the arms of a man not her husband, “does no one condemn you?”
There’ll be many voices on the sidelines of your life making comments and assumptions and judgments about who are you, what you’ve done and where you’re headed. But when you look into the face of Christ and stare deep into his eyes of grace and mercy, his loves drowns out the accusations and condemnations; and he fills your life, your blood and bones, your heart and soul with his love.
So take your injured, beat up life… wounds that have been inflicted by others, or deep-set pain caused by your own actions, and bring them before God. Don’t hold onto them like trophies or hide them away like failures – they’ll only slow you down, hold you up, limp your run and cause you to trip. Strip them off, put them aside, attend to them, allow God to heal you, forgive you, free you. It may take some time to return to wholeness, like Jesse’s injured knee. But if you keep at it, you’ll get there. And your run will be all the better for it.
To be continued…
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