The Walk of Faith

Pacers and pacer groups are a standard part of any 26.2 mile marathon.  A pacer is an experienced marathon runner who runs a steady pace and keeps track of that pace so that those following them can run the race at a particular pace in order to finish with a particular time.  At any marathon, there will be a number of pacers standing at the starting line holding a sign with a goal time above their head indicating the pace they plan to run.  A pace group is a group of runners who run a marathon following a particular experienced marathon runner.  A pacer and a pace group provide tangible motivation and encouragement to finish a race and accomplish their race goal.  Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a pacer and a pace group for life?

READ:  Hebrews 12:1-2

Living life in the same way as Jesus did requires ENDURING FAITH!  FAITH = Being fully convinced that Jesus Christ is to be the One who sets the PACE for your whole life from START to FINISH.  Jesus Christ stood at the beginning of the race of his life holding a sign above His head that read, “follow me”, “walk in the same way in which (I) walk (1 John 2:6).”  In other words, from birth to death, Jesus set the perfect pace necessary to endure the race of life.  The author of Hebrews says Jesus ran the race of life with “joy” even though it required “endur(ing) the cross”.  Jesus set the perfect pace with every thought, word, action, and decision of His life.  When running the race of life we need enduring faith to live in the same way Jesus did from the very beginning to the finish line.  How are we to run the race of life with enduring faith?

Running the race of life requires laying aside the WEIGHT and SIN that slow us down (Heb 12:1) – Running a marathon would be bad enough, but can you imagine running a marathon with a heavy backpack!?!  In order to keep pace with Jesus we need eliminate any “weight” or “sin” that slows us down in life.  Weight we need to lay aside might include worldliness or selfish priorities.  Sin we need to lay aside includes any way we choose to live our own lives that is in rebellion against God’s righteous standard.  Running with this worthless and destructive extra baggage will do more than just make running difficult, it will make running nearly impossible.

Running the race of life is a MARATHON and not a SPRINT (Heb 12:1) – A sprint is short and requires a brief burst of all the energy we’ve got.  It’s over almost as soon as it starts.  A marathon is long and requires a slow and consistent pace.  It goes on and on and you think you might never get to the finish line.  Many of us because we are running the wrong type of race, we run at the wrong pace, and aren’t running the race at all.  The race of life is not a sprint to church for an hour on Sunday.  The race of life is not chasing vigorously after the next “mountaintop experience”.  The race of life is a daily lifestyle that includes living like Jesus in all our thoughts, words, actions, and decisions.  This type of race is extremely difficult, but God promises to provide the endurance necessary to run it.

Running the race of life requires LOOKING to Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) – A pacer in a marathon will do us no good if they are not the focus of our attention.  If we run our own race we will either go too fast or too slow, neither of which will be the right pace necessary to make it to the finish line.  In order to run the right pace we must continually, “look to Jesus”.  He is the “founder” of our faith, the starting line of our faith, the One who is its source and beginning.  Jesus is the “perfecter” of our faith, the finish line of our faith, the One who is our goal and ultimate measure of our success (Eph. 4:13).  Philippians 1:6 says that it is Jesus, “who began a good work in you (and) will bring it to completion”.  As we look to Jesus and keep pace with Him, we can be confident that we are running the race of our lives in a way that will get us to the finish line!

CONCLUSION
In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  Living like Jesus doesn’t add a heavy weight to our race, in fact, it lightens us to be able to be free to run.  Our race is lightened because Jesus carry’s our burden’s for us.  Jesus carried the burden of the cross so that our shoulders could be free to run unhindered (1 John 5:3).  Are you running the marathon of life carrying a heavy burden or are you running unhindered by living the same way Jesus lived?