Track: Are You Running on the Right One?

If life is a race, then who’s winning?

Years ago, a running enthusiast wrote a letter to some friends. In this letter, he implored them to do the right thing and correct some wrongs that they had done. He did everything he could to make them fully realize the seriousness of their situation and how they should amend matters.

This sports fan was the apostle Paul, writing to his friends and spiritual family in the Corinthian church. In 1 Corinthians 9:24, he added an important principle that we can use to show us our spiritual course of life: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.”

Wrong way, José

As Christians, we are running in a race. Paul again makes this analogy in 2 Timothy 4:7 as he looks back on his life of service to God and says, “I have finished the race.” Paul referred to the Christian way of life as a race, a long-distance race that we are all running right now.

But what did Paul mean, “Run in such a way that you may obtain it”?

We have to run in a special way in order to receive the final prize. Yet if running the right race the right way is a concern, then is there a possibility, a danger even, of running the wrong way?

Right race, wrong way

During His ministry, Jesus Christ revealed that we can indeed go running the wrong way. In Matthew 7:21-23 Christ tells us that some will say that they’ve followed Him, and yet He will say that He doesn’t even know them.

These people all claimed to be followers of Christ—Christians. Yet some of them didn’t run the way that Christ ran when He set our example (1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6). We must make sure that we are running the right race, and that we are running the right way. By reading the Bible, particularly the Gospels, we can learn how Christ lived His life and live our lives the same way.

How to run

Christ’s life was very different from what some would have us imagine. We must make sure that we truly know how He ran the race of life if we’re to properly follow Him. For example, do we:

• Love our neighbor, even if that neighbor is an enemy (Matthew 5:43-44)?
• Study and live on God’s Word (Matthew 4:4)?
• Keep the weekly Sabbath that Christ created for the benefit of man (Mark 2:27-28)?

Christ left us an example of how we’re to live life, and these are just a few things about His life that we’re to imitate. The Bible is full of what Christ believed in and taught. Only by reading it can we really know how we are to run our race.

Winning our race

We need God’s help, but with that priceless help we can run our race right and finish a winner! Just like a normal race, we will struggle to finish it, but we can do it!

God has also made it worth our while to win the race. Today’s athletes receive medals and trophies that rust and get lost. We will receive a crown of glory that will never fade away (1 Peter 5:4).

Paul also gives us an inspiring note in 2 Timothy 4:7-8: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

If we are running on the right track the right way, then we will win the race, receive a crown of glory and righteousness, and have the opportunity to dwell with God forever! Now that is a race well worth running!

Joshua Travers is a high school senior who attends the Athens, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. He enjoys writing and reading.

For more about our spiritual race, see:

• Run to Obtain the Prize: Taking All the Spiritual Exercises Seriously
• Ride Your Race to Win!
• Rising to Fight Again