To Run Fast, You Have To Run Fast

/ Christian Living, Discipleship / By

Emblazoned on every cross-country t-shirt in my high school days was a quote from the  track and cross-country head coach, Skip Frye:

To run fast, you have to run fast.
Those of you who know me know that cross-country running is not my strength, but I think I get something of what Coach Frye was trying to get at with his runners. If you want to compete up to your ability, you must practice up to your ability. To run fast in a meet, you must run fast in practice. You can’t be lazy in every practice and still win every race. Life just doesn’t work that way.

The same principles hold true in our Christian lives. If you want to be holy and live well for Christ, you can’t wait for the tests and trials to come to prove your salt. You must seek God daily. Your sanctification may be sped along during times of testing and trial, but if you have not been flexing your spiritual muscles before the times of trouble come then the testing may prove to shipwreck your faith rather than strengthen it.

Paul urged Timothy to fight the good fight of faith in 1 Timothy 6:12. It is not an accident that Paul then uses similar language at the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4:6:

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
Paul urged Timothy to fight and then, at the very end, encourages Timothy by telling him that he had fought. Christian, the life to which you have been called is one of discipline and obedience. Paul had finished his race, but he was victorious because he had fought the fight. He could persevere the dark storms of life because he had sought the Lord in brighter days.

[bctt tweet=”The middle of a storm is no time to stake your tent.”]

Make sure that your house is in order while the day is bright, so that when the dark storms of life come you can persevere.

Just remember, to run fast you, you have to run fast. To finish well as a believer and weather the storms that come, you cannot wait for the dark days. “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the days of trouble come” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).