You must train to win!
Have you ever been asked to run a race for charity? When someone asks you to do that, it’s hard to say no without looking like you do not support their charity. You don’t want to come right out and say, if I run your 5K you will have to take me away in an ambulance. So you are left with the quandary of how do you run this race and not die? The answer to this is really quite simple, you must prepare to run the race. You do not get up one morning and try to run the 3.2 miles with no warm-up or preparation. If you do not die, you will pull a hamstring, Achilles tendon or something like that. Preparing to run a 5K is to build up to that distance little by little. Endurance is the name of the game, and that is something you must train for. You may decide to start walking first, maybe only 1 mile a day. When you feel you can do that with no strain to your body you may up your game to 2 miles a day. When you finally make a 3.2 mile day at a walk, you may start speeding up a bit, with a brisk walk. From there you might graduate to a jog, building your lung capacity each and every day to handle the demand for more oxygen while exercising. After you feel comfortable at a jog you may start actually running a little farther each day until you can reach the 3.2 mile goal. It takes commitment, hydration, sleep, and endurance to reach your final goal, which is the finish line. When you cross that finish line you are hot, tired, winded, and euphorically happy, knowing you ran the race, you finished the course, and all of your training paid off.
Life is much like training for a 5, 10 or 25 K race. It takes a lot of personal training, conditioning, commitment, and endurance to reach your final goal. So how do we prepare ourselves to be able to cross the finish line of life? How about we start with the good diet?
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
By accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior we are given the bread of life, and springs of living water so we will never be hungry or thirst Spiritually again. And because we know the Scriptures are true, we know that if we keep God’s law, (which is the Word of God) we will have a long life. So now that we know how to get a good diet, and long life it should make our training for the finish line better. One of the things we should be consistent in is reading the Bible, God’s Holy Word. It will give us strength for the long haul, and joy in a fantastic finish.
As parents we tried to make sure our children eat healthy meals, get plenty of rest, stay hydrated, and are clean. It is also something we want to make sure of in their spiritual life, that they stay hydrated with the springs a living water, have a healthy meal, which is Jesus Christ the bread of life, get plenty of rest, by trusting in Jesus, who said he will help carry our burdens, and give us rest, and read the Word of God so they can stay spiritually clean. This is another area of our life we need to teach our children by example.
We as authors may not run 5K races, but we are not strangers to marathons when it comes to racing toward a deadline as a finish line. It takes commitment to stay focused and not be sidelined when we are trying to work. The same is true is in our life, stay committed to Christ and don’t let the devil sidelined us.
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
I Corinthians 9:24-26
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
II Timothy 4:7
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Matthew 24:13