The loneliness of the long distance runner

I think we can all admire the endurance of a marathon runner. How are they able to run a distance of 42kms? The answer is through hard work.

Currently, it is recommended that aspiring marathoners run 30-50 kms per week for a YEAR, before beginning a marathon training program!

Serving God is like a spiritual marathon. We try to follow the example left for us by Jesus – and it’s hard! Along the way we find ourselves doing or saying things that are not like Jesus at all. We can end up feeling unworthy – and maybe even feel like giving up. This is where endurance comes in.

The apostle Paul experienced the same problems: “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, this I keep doing!..... What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:18-19 & 24-25, NIV)

And Jesus, who understands our weaknesses, left these simple words of encouragement: “…..But he who endures to the end will be saved.”  (Matthew 24:13, NIV)

Hang in there!