1…let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:1-2
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
There are many parallels between the race i crutched last weekend and our eternal progression.
1. Pressure is good.
The day after I “raced” I taught a priesthood lesson in which one learner compared mortality to bring in a pressure cooker. In order to truly become like God as quickly as possible, we needed to leave the comfort of God’s presence and obtain mortal bodies. The process of the mortal journey is the pressure cooker.
Instead of thousands, millions, or more years with God, a few decades separated from him could refine us (Malachi 3) far more quickly and better.
So we should not be afraid of the heat, the pressure, or both getting turned up.
2. Opting in is the only way to know.
Everything I thought—about how fast I could go, how much it would hurt, or whether I could even do it—didn’t matter until I actually tried.
And I don’t mean a half-assed effort from the place I parked to where I needed to be during the days prior. Those were 400m experiences. Max. I was never going to know what I could do until I crossed the starting line and began the race.
Our mortal journeys as a whole—this is also true for individual parts—are similar. We don’t know how much we can endure until we’ve already endured it.
You may struggle with overweight, singleness, childlessness, disobedient offspring, lack of focus or commitment, short temper, addiction of one or various types. But the simple fact is, you don’t know what you can endure until you actually try to endure it.
3. In your weakness, you may still be an inspiration.
I had a lot of people say stuff to me along the race. As they passed me. Most were astounded I was crutching it. I realized (maybe with a hint of conceit) I was motivating them.
I didn’t set out to be a motivation. I was just a gimp on the path who felt mostly in the way.
I expect some people in the world feel that way. I hope they can occasionally see themselves from others’s points of view: they are inspiring.
4. Nothing matters unless you finish.
I may have been inspiring (the humbler side of me hopes not), but nothing would have mattered if I hadn’t finished.
Maybe the person who passed me at mile 1 would never know, but even in my “crippled” state I had to finish. Regardless of what obstacle or headwind I experienced—even if it were different from or “unfair” when compared to another’s—I had to finish the race set before me.
That was the agreement. I agreed to run that race. And it took endurance, stamina, and patience. 25:42/mile. That’s patience if I ever heard a patient pace.
5. We all run the same race.
You might get to have two legs. I might only get one an crutches.
In the race of life, we each have more personalized handicaps. It could be infertility or mental illness. Or both. It could be genetic abnormality. It could be an addictive tendency. Or all four.
If Jesus is truly the author and finisher of our faith, who descended below and experienced all things, perhaps we should be glad we are invited to endure only the few things set before us.
Yes, these things test us and try us to our core. But the test is the same for everyone: will you be perfectly obedient to the very clear standards God requires?
He knows our handicaps, but He doesn’t let us hide behind them as excuses.
He asks each of us to perform the same collection of tasks:
“run with patience the race that is set before us”
That’s all. If you run with crutches, one plugged nostril, half a brain, or a torn ACL it’s still a binary outcome: Yes or No.
Jesus ran with every handicap you and I have. And He still completed the race, because of the “joy that was set before Him.” Somehow, somewhere He found joy despite His pains, handicaps, and struggles.
And even though we have fewer troubles and trials that He did, we too can find joy. We too can, with Him and because of Him, be “set down at the right hand of the throne of God” if we “run with patience the race set before us.”