“…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

I am training for a Marathon in the fall. It will be my 7th.  I am determined to qualify for Boston but I don’t know that I will have the speed to get it done.  But, if I keep running at the same pace I am now for another few years, then I might be able to qualify because the times go down the older you get.  This approach doesn’t work for business.  If we stay the same speed then we get passed up by someone else, but at the same time we have to be able to run the long race as business is certainly not about the short sprint.  I worked at Pepsi when they celebrated their 100th Anniversary.  That was nearly 20 years ago and they continue on, doing basically the same thing they did when they started back in North Carolina, but everyday trying to improve, become more efficient, become smarter and innovating.  This is what the marathon is about.  It’s lots and lots of hours and miles trying to get better and better so that the long run doesn’t feel all that bad.  Is your business thinking and acting like there is a marathon to be run?

The Christian life is also one of endurance and fortitude for the long run.  Jesus’ life journey, while shorter than the years we may live, was one of endurance and relentless commitment to the finish. When we think of how we need to train and ready ourselves we need to be putting the hours into our time in God’s Word, on our knees, and in fellowship with other believers.  How diligent are we “putting in the miles” or are we just getting by and hoping for the best results?  That was not the way of Jesus and that is not the life He modeled and calls on us to live.  Let’s be sure that we are committing, or recommitting to the long run with Jesus.

Reference:  Hebrews 12:1 (New Living Translation)