Keep Running!

It’s called “hitting the wall.” Energy depleted, the runner’s body is exhausted. He or she feels overwhelmed by a desire to slow down, or even to give up altogether. Muscles ache. Resolve wavers. Hope sinks. The finish line seems too far off.

However, the real battle of making it to the finish line doesn’t lie in the body. As one runner says, “It becomes a serious mental battle when you ‘hit the wall.’”

Jesus hit the wall. In Gethsemane, He cried out to God, every fiber of His being rebelling against the agony of the cross lying ahead. He desperately asked if there was any way to avoid it. There was not.

After that, Jesus’ attitude changed remarkably. When the soldiers looked for Jesus so they could arrest Him, He responded with confidence, “I am he” (John 18:4-6). He faced the wall and broke through. As Hebrews 12:1 says, He focused on the joy set before Him, despised the shame, and passed through the pain to sit at God’s right hand.

Now it’s our turn. We don’t have to endure the cross — Jesus did that — but we are called to run, with endurance, the race before us. A great cloud of others have gone before and made it to the finish. The only thing that holds us back are our sins, which we can cast off because Jesus went before us. The finish line lies ahead....

Keep running!

Lord, I’m really tired. I’m not sure I can go another day. I’ll need your help to finish this race. Can we do it together? Amen.

Go Deeper — The race will end. The joy of finishing will last forever. Think about what lies ahead and don’t quit!

Read Further — Do you feel overwhelmed? Have you hit the wall? Reading this may help.