The Great Eternal Run

Addis Ababa was so colorful yesterday! I realized that it was because of the annual Great Ethiopian Run. I would have loved to be part of it but couldn’t (for the obvious reason that I got a job to do on Sunday mornings ha!) Congratulations for those who made it!

But it reminded me of the Great Eternal Run that the Bible talks about. You see, the Bible describes our spiritual walk with God as a race. Here are just a couple of verses:

“Run in such a way as to get the prize” (1Cor 9: 24)

“…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Heb 12:1)

This eternal race has a lot of similarities with yesterdays Addis event. For example:

We’ve got to register to be part of it!

Those that qualified to run yesterday were the 37, 000 registered citizens out of unregistered millions like me. In the same way, the Bible tells us that it is only those that accept Christ as their savior that are given the right to be children of God (Jn 1:12). Hence, they are the ones that ‘qualify’ to be in His race. Our unchanged sinful nature cannot qualify to run for God. We need to be born again and become a new creature in Christ. (John 3:3)

I am sure at this point of your reading, you are asking about the registration fee. Well, here is the good news- it is free! Of course this doesn’t mean that it was free; but the Son of God paid the price for you at Calvary. It costed God everything but is offered to us for free! Therefore, come to Christ and qualify for the race. Christ himself is calling: “Come to me” Mt 11:28-30)

We’ve got to finish the race! 

For those of us that are already in, the challenge is to finish the course. We have to run till the finished line: “Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.”(1Cor 9:24-25). Starting the race is free but finishing demands living a disciplined life of purity before God. Otherwise, we will be entangled to fall before the finishing line.

Sin is like a heavy load that keeps us from running well. The Bible encourages us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Heb 12:1)

Congrats again for those who made it to the finished line of the Great Ethiopian Run! But let’s keep running and see you at the finishing line of this wonderful Great Eternal one! Believe me, the prize is much rewarding that the one you received yesterday!