I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7, NASB)
We have all watched golf tournaments that are played in the rain. Maybe you have had the chance to play a round or two in “less than ideal” conditions. Golfers can dress in rain gear, use an umbrella, and wear special gloves.
But what I saw on TV early last week went far beyond a golfer ready to battle the elements. I watched an amazing athletic feat of grit, determination, and focus. Dressed only in running shoes, running shorts, and a long-sleeved top, a 34-year-old woman, all of five feet, one inch tall, who had never won a marathon in her career, ran 26.2 miles in torrential rain (at times coming down in sheets), blustery wind often blowing the rain sideways, and icy cold 40-degree temps to win the Boston marathon.
Conditions were so bad that the men’s winner won in the slowest time in 42 years and Desi Linden, the female winner, won in the slowest time in 40 years. And get this: When one of her American “elite runner” friends stopped to go to the bathroom (granted, a bit unusual), Desi slowed down and dropped back from the elite runner pack to help her catch up. It was if she said to the rest of the elite runner pack, “You guys go on ahead. We’ll catch up.” I am not sure what the golf equivalent would be. Tiger giving Phil four strokes?
Linden, overcoming weather distractions that overwhelmed everyone else, won by more than four minutes. It was the first win by an American woman in 33 years.
Never mind that this isn’t golf. That race and what Desiree Linden accomplished raised questions that have been nagging at me ever since: What race am I running? How often is it in focus? How good am I at ignoring or overcoming distractions?
In Linden’s case, those distractions were before her eyes from the start: cold, rain, wind, and fatigue. But in life the distractions come in all shapes and sizes. They can come at sudden random times when I least expect it—someone cutting me off in traffic or a business deal falling apart or water in my basement. Or they can slowly creep into my life until I become overly concerned with them—financial matters, family issues, physical ailments to name a few. It can be anything that gets our eyes off Christ.
In the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4), Jesus called those distractions the “worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things.” For each person, that could mean something different. Whatever it is for you, Jesus says those issues can make his Word “become unfruitful.” That is to say, whenever we take our eyes off Christ for an extended period of time, his Word dries up, becomes flat, loses its life. It is not that his Word has changed; it’s that we have changed. We’ve changed where we are looking. And it isn’t even necessarily a bad thing that we are looking at. Even good things, reasonable things, can get in the way of following Christ, the best thing.
So what race am I to run? Hebrews 12:1-2a says it clearly: “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”
So today, forget about the wind, driving rain, and bitter cold temperatures—those negative things in our lives that can demand our attention. And don’t get fooled by the good things either. Today, fix your eyes on Jesus. Today, run the only race worth running.
—
Bob Kuecker
April 25, 2018
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.