HE WHO FINISHES THE RACE Wins the Prize I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…” Ecclesiastes 9:11
The book of Proverbs is said to be the book of wisdom, and well it is. Here is wisdom, “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil” (Proverbs 4:25-27). Someone said, “It is hard to keep on, but it is harder still to keep on keeping on, and the difference between the spurious Christian and the true, is staying power.” A few years back a little thoroughbred horse by the name of Sunday Silence proved that it is not how you begin the race that counts but how you finish. She stumbled out of the starting gate and fell way behind, yet caught the field and against heavy odds won the Kentucky Derby. We who profess the Christian faith are in a race, and many, many things work against us. The only thing whereby we shall be sustained to continue and persevere in the race is God given grace. I’ve been ‘stumbling’ after Christ now going on fifty-six years and I’ve seen not a few “Johnny-come-latelies” get a quick jump and make a good run at it, yet stumble and fall completely out of the race before the course is finished. I see them and must say, “Were not for grace, there goes I.” The Apostle Paul said, “…Let us run with patience (endurance) the race that is set before us, 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” (Hebrews 12:1-2). The apostle is saying to us, “Let us run.” He has in his mind’s eye the Olympic Games, where all the different contestants of the Greek games were gathered together in a general assembly to display the strength of the race. Among the athletic exercises were foot races. The apostle makes this foot race an illustration of the Christian life. We must run with patience along the appointed course if we would win the prize of our high calling. Not only have I known those who fell out of the race, I’ve also known precious men and women who have finished the race. They as well as the apostle are at our side as runners. The presence of such comrades is most inspiriting. It is good doing good things in good company. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Who will back out of a race wherein so great a saint takes his place at our side? You, who aspire to be associated with the excellent of the earth, press forward side by side with such. “Let us run,” from Paul’s lips, puts wings upon our heels.
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