I almost missed this anniversary. This week marks two years since I publicly committed my life to Jesus Christ. I have to give Facebook credit for reminding me by popping up the picture of my baptism in my timeline. Chalk a rare victory up to social media.
I still look back in amazement at how much God has transformed my life over the past two years.
Year 1 was all about building a relationship with Christ and re-building a relationship with my wife, Amy. That whole year was filled with prayer, reading scripture, going to church, listening to online sermons, getting rid of the junk food of my mind and turning away from everything the culture was throwing at me – porn, Netflix, cable TV, alcohol, drugs, sports.
That first year was about spending as much time as possible with God and with Amy.
Year 2 brought more blessings: I started a podcast, Amy and I renewed our wedding vows for our 10-year anniversary, we shared our testimony in front of our entire church family and we bought a new house that represents the new life we have together.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” – Hebrews 12:1
As a runner, I do appreciate all of the references to running in the Bible. I ran a marathon 20 years ago and have run a handful of half-marathons since. As I look ahead to year 3 of this new life, the word God has put on my heart is ENDURANCE and it brings me back to my marathon days.
The victory of running a marathon isn’t getting to the finish line. The real victory is actually just getting to the starting line. Over the course of 16 weeks leading up to a marathon, you are doing something every single day to build your endurance and strengthen your body.
There are days where the last thing you want to do is run – but you still do it. Some days, your training run is free and easy, and it feels like you could run forever. Other days, your legs are burning after one mile and you labor over each step. Not to mention family, work, friends and other commitments that line your calendar and make getting in that 15 mile run a challenge.
Sound familiar? Sometimes that’s how I feel I treat my relationship with God. There are days when praying, reading the Bible and worshiping God are so encouraging that it feels like it could fill my whole day up. Other times, I feel disconnected and let the distractions of life just bowl me over until I’ve squandered the precious time God has given me that day.
But it’s that persistence in building your endurance (on a run or with God) despite the distractions, that gets you to the starting line of a race – or to the starting line of your daily faith walk.
On race day, the first 4 or 5 miles of the marathon are filled with euphoria (if you are not a runner, you have to trust me on this one). People are cheering you on, other runners are cheering you on, and your pace is fast and it feels like you are running on air. That’s what the first year of salvation was for me. Lots of cheers, moving fast to learn as much as I could about God, and enjoying the new blessings coming my way. But you have to be on guard for starting your race too fast and having enough energy to get through the hard moments of the race down the road.
Once you get past that initial burst of adrenaline at the start line, your hard works starts to pay off over the next few miles. You’re getting more confident in your run and you settle into your running stride and find the right pace.
However, before you know it, you’re 10 miles into the marathon and suddenly the crowd is gone. The cheers have been replaced with the sound of your feet pounding on the pavement. It’s just you and your thoughts for miles and miles of running. Your legs start to burn and ache, and the finish line is nothing more than a thought at this point.
That’s where my faith “run” is at today. Over the past few months, I’ve let the distractions the enemy has placed in my life knock me off course more than I would like. I’ve drifted a bit from what helped me build my relationship – my endurance – with Jesus over the past two years. It’s taken me away from the time I spend with God and it’s taken me away from the calling I believe God has for me.
As I think about what year three of salvation looks like for me, I have to get back to building up my spiritual ENDURANCE. That means daily prayer and daily scripture reading. Less time on social media and more time filling up on online sermons and other God-focused content. More time writing, creating more podcasts, talking more about God’s influence on my life.
God is the only path for me to get back to the start line of my daily faith run. His endurance produces that daily victory.
I hope you join me.