Run!
This is an audio recording of Run! the Day 4 entry in Today: Devotions for Seafarers (Vol. 2) by Jason Zuidema.
Listen to the audio by Donielle Hart Goad or read the text below:
“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. . . . ”
Our physical bodies need daily exercise and activity. If we rarely stretch, exercise, or play sports, our bodies will grow inflexible and heavy. In the long run we will risk all sorts of health issues. By midlife we will feel the aches and pains of old age prematurely. Because shipping companies want healthy employees, many of them put up posters in mess rooms to encourage good health.
Though we don't often think of spiritual health in the same way, we need to be spiritually fit as well. To be fully healthy on board or wherever we are, we need more than just physical exercise; we need exercise for our souls. We need to engage in faith-building exercises such as prayer, Bible reading, devotions, and worship and fellowship with other believers.
These are not exercises we do by our own strength, however. Through Jesus Christ, God has given us a "new nature" that needs to grow up and become strong. The apostle Paul explains that Christians, as a body, need to be attached to Christ as their Head, for "the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow" (Colossians 2:19)
As we, the worldwide body of Christ, grow, we need to exercise all the muscles of our faith. As our reading from Hebrews today puts it, we must "run with perseverance the race marked out for us." We are called not to shuffle or trudge along in our spiritual life, but to press on, with exertion, for God's glory.
For Further Thought
What happens when you do not get enough physical exercise?
Do you feel you are making progress in your spiritual life, or are you hindered in some way?
How might you begin to "run" again as a Christian?
Prayer
Creator God, thank you that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Help us to be active in your kingdom work so that we may bring you glory and honor. In Jesus' name, Amen.
