Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
(1 Corinthians 9)
I received a phone call recently from one of my dearest friends. We’ve known each other for a surprisingly long time, having met at a church on the south coast, and his brother is also my close friend. Their third brother, also a great friend, went to glory with Jesus 20 years ago after his body died from cancer. We’re looking forward to seeing him again.
And it was about the 20-year mark that my friend wanted to talk about – but the two decades ahead, not the past. He pointed out that we have perhaps 20 to 30 years left, maybe a bit more, between us on this Earth. He’s in his fifties and I am 50 next year. He wanted to stress that whatever time we have left, we need to really ‘do’ as Jesus asks because it won’t be long until we see him face to face. We needed to get on with ‘it’ and serve others with the love of God. It’s now or never.
It was a tremendous reminder to simply not waste time. It’s too easy to get dragged down with less important things: notions of personal grandeur, of ambition, worries about income, of health, of trying to experience as that life offers on planet Earth, despite the far greater vastness of heaven. We wear earthly bodies, which cannot be compared to heavenly bodies… all these vain things mean absolutely nothing in comparison to eternity. And of all people, I should be the last person needing to be reminded of that. I walked in the shadow of death in 2023 when I had a brain bleed, unconscious for 36 hours, and then made a miraculous recovery.
And for sure I have drawn closer to God and take my walk with Him seriously since I was discharged from the high dependency brain injuries unit. But we need friends to remind us sometimes to keep going. Keep running for the prize upwards in Jesus! Dust off all the distractions and bathe in the love of God. He’s the answer to our prayers. Whatever challenges we endure in our personal lives – all of those things will eventually succumb to the authority of the Creator. It says somewhere in the Bible that Jesus “abolished death.” How can anyone get rid of death? Yet that’s exactly what Jesus did. We are called to know the man who abolished death. Mediate on the fact.
So I say this to myself as much to the few who read these devotionals. Let’s redouble our efforts to love God and love others in any way we can. Consecrate our hearts to him afresh, pick up the pace in the “race” and run hard and fast!
I wrote a poem echoing such thoughts a few years ago, which was published in ‘God & Nature Magazine’ by the American Scientific Affiliation:-
The Answer
Dark hounds are running fast at me. I duck against the ropes.
Even so, Christ’s blood is my shield and I will stand firm.
Muscle-down and refuse to bend the knee. Despite the cost.
Turn my weary gaze upwards. Choose to smile at primal stars.
Formed once-upon-a-time by Father. He dwells in heavenly lights.
Hallowed is His royal blood – there’s power in God’s blood.
Brings life into death and breathes grace into what is lost.
Shadows form, madness screams, depravity pretends authority;
Driven by the fallen angel – but there’s hope without. Hope within.
I’m a saved soldier. I pick myself up and march right on again.
Trusting Jesus Christ on the throne: my Messiah is all-caring.
For the ancient eyes of my LORD are throughout the Earth.
For the ancient eyes of my LORD are throughout this clay.
I’m free to grasp His love and, in pain, face the dogs again.
Fight hard to win. I have, at last, The Answer: Christ the Living.
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