by The Howitzer
One of the most grueling races that I have ever participated in was the 400-meter. Back in the day it was called the 440-yard dash, which made it sound even longer. In my prime, I ran a respectable quarter and hated every minute of it. Actually, every 54.5 seconds of it.
Once around the track as fast as your little legs can take you. This race is meant to break you. The first 100m are pretty much an explosion of speed as you try to set a good pace. The 2nd 100m are an exercise in discipline as everything within you wants to step off the track and take a break. The 3rd 100m starts with the big turn and the lean of the curve is a momentary distraction to navigate before the final ascent to the finish line. As you near the home stretch, a large monkey comes from nowhere and literally jumps on your back. Your legs pound, your lungs are exploding and your manhood is seriously called into question.
For me, the last 100m were always surreal. I felt like I was having an out of body experience. Most time, I found myself glancing at my legs just to make sure they were moving. This race is where the phrase, “gut it out” comes from. As you cross the finish line, you realize that you have accomplished something significant even though you may not have looked very good pulling it off. You also hope you don’t have to do that again anytime soon. Endurance now has a face. To master one’s self in an endurance race like the 400 is a struggle. The race is only the outward struggle. The real battle occurs in the heart of the runner. Your must resist what your mind and body are telling you to do and push through to accomplish your goal.
That same kind of endurance is needed in our fight against sin. Our mind and body cry out for us to continually give in to our temptations. Yet our spirit and the Spirit of God for that matter say that we must resist and push on through. Listen to the writer of Hebrews describe our battle with sin:
1Therefore, 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. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
I love the imagery of the race and how easily entangled we can become. I also love the example of looking at Jesus who endured great suffering in His battle against sin. William Barclay has a great thought on Jesus endurance against sin in his commentary on Hebrews.
No one was ever surer of Jesus’ complete identity with men. He went through everything that a man has to go through and is like us in all things—except that he emerged from it all completely sinless. Before we turn to examine more closely the meaning of this, there is one thing we must note. The fact that Jesus was without sin means that he knew depths and tensions and assaults of temptation which we never can know. So far from his battle being easier it was immeasurably harder. Why? For this reason—we fall to temptation long before the tempter has put out the whole of his power. We never know temptation at its fiercest because we fall long before that stage is reached. But Jesus was tempted far beyond what we are; for in his case the tempter put everything he possessed into the assault. Think of this in terms of pain. There is a degree of pain which the human frame can stand—and when that degree is passed a person loses consciousness so that there are agonies of pain he can not know. It is so with temptation. We collapse in face of temptation; but Jesus went to our limit of temptation and far beyond it and still did not collapse. It is true to say that he was tempted in all things as we are; but it is also true to say that no one was tempted as he was.
Contrasted with what Jesus experienced, the author of Hebrews makes an astute yet somewhat obvious observation about mankind. He says, “ in your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood”. What an understatement. Not only have I not shed blood, I have hardly even broken a sweat in my battle against sin. In my battle with sin I usually walk off the track in the 2nd 100m. On the backstretch where no one can see. On the backstretch before the race gets really grueling. On the backstretch before I break a sweat. Just once I wish I could round the last curve and make it the homestretch. The homestretch where you can’t feel your legs. The homestretch where your lungs are exploding. The homestretch where your body moves in pure and simple submission to your will. The homestretch where the finish line is!
Photo by √oхέƒx™
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Heb 12:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
The letter to the Hebrews. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.) (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. (41). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.
