Conditioning

I have never liked running long distances.  Back in my more athletic days, I made sure that all of my running was as short of a distance as possible.  In track, I never ran anything longer than the 100-yard-dash and in football I was the running back; Even if I did happen to break lose for a good run, it couldn't be longer than 100 yards.  I found that anytime I actually did have to run long distance, I became winded or exhausted.  Apart from my blatant disdain for it, this was probably because I had never conditioned myself properly.

Many years ago, the author of Hebrews wrote that life is like a long-distance race, and to finish it, you need to have a conditioned endurance.

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness" (12:11).

As I get older, I continually realize how important it is to stay active.  If I want my activity to be of any merit, then I need to be active for long periods of time, and this means running long distances.  Last year I started doing my best to run a few miles as often as possible, and I realized that as I ran, my body became more conditioned to the exercise.  Before long, running a few miles became easy.  Because of my conditioning, I had built endurance and was able to "finish the race set before me."

Unlike most races, the race of life--as described in Hebrews--is won not by finishing first, but by simply finishing at all.  To finish the race, you must have endurance and this endurance is conditioned by trials.  James has written that "the testing of your faith produces endurance" (James 1:3)  In other words, both the author of Hebrews and James (and Paul for that matter) all wrote that trials (God's chastening) are the means by which a believer is conditioned to complete the race set before him.  Like pushing through exhaustion during a run, we must press on through the trials in our life.

Without trials, we would never gain the endurance necessary to go the distance.

As long-distance runners in the race of life, we have many who have gone on before us, setting an example for us.  Hebrews calls these the "great cloud of witnesses."  We also have a sure goal, who the author says to "fix our eyes on... [for He is] the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (12:2).  This of course is Jesus Christ.

In light of this, let us "consider Him who endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (12:3).