Such beautiful, pleasant weather. It’s so nice to be this late in the season and still be allowed to be active outside. Marge & I took advantage of the sunshine yesterday afternoon to do a little painting. Since we’re in a duplex and share the back yard, we decided to build a fence to separate the yard. Its not a big fence, only about 30 feet long. So yesterday we attacked it and got it all painted and finished. It makes me think of the Robert Frost poem “Mending Wall” and the quote, “good fences make good neighbors.” You know side note, privacy fences are a very American thing. We are blessed with lots of space and few people in it, so we can all have land and make it private for our own use. This is just not true in many parts of the world. For instance, look at Manila, Phillipines. There are 107,000 people per square mile. In comparison, Fort Worth has 2,166 people per square mile. You see we’ve got room, lots of room. Room to spread out.
This morning I want to talk about running. Running a race. Let me paint a picture. Two runners are preparing to run a 110 meter sprint. They have been training and preparing for this big race for months and the big day is here. The stands are full, the cheers ring out and adrenaline is coursing through their veins. The runners enjoy one last moment to stretch before they take their spots. They glance at the finish line, their destination. The yellow tape that is their goal, gently waves in the light breeze. Everything in their world goes silent as they take to their starting blocks. Their focus is singular. The spikes on their running shoes dig into the surface and their muscles tense. They still. Waiting. Waiting for one singular sound. A sound to break the silence in their psyche. The gun sounds, and they explode from their marks. One runner leaps forth towards the tape but wait, what? The other runner heads in the complete opposite direction. He is running away from the finish line. He is going in the opposite direction from where he was meant to go. He is running away from the prize.
As I read through Ephesians chapter 2 this morning God put this picture in my mind. As we are born, we are running. Running in one direction. Listen to this:
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Eph 2:1-3
We started our race in this world and the finish line was disobedience to God. You see since we are all born with a sin nature, we all start out running in the wrong direction. This is mankind’s nature, it’s who we are. So, if this is the direction we’re running, what’s the goal? What’s the prize at the finish line. I pondered this, this morning. Before I accepted Christ for what was I running? It didn’t take long for an answer to occupy my mind. The yellow tape I strove for? The finish line I sprinted for? Self.
As children and teens we live under rules. Our parents rules. They have certain ideals in place that are meant to protect, guide and build us into healthy, happy, productive individuals. Even in this loving environment we fight this authority. We're runnig the race. Self is still king. I wish I had a dollar for every time I said as a teen, “if I could only do what I want.”
Flash forward to our adult years. Finally. I’m finally an adult and I can do whatever I want. What is it that I want. Self. I want what I want. So, at this time in my life, I’m about 19 and did not know Christ. I was running for self. So when you run you get tired. You need energy. If your running for Christ, the energy comes from God but if you’re running for self where do you get your energy. Well, it’s pretty scary but if your worshipping yourself, your exactly where Satan wants you and he will be more than happy to energize you to keep you running in that direction. Look back at the verse, “following the prince of power of the air (Satan), the spirit that is now at work (energizing) in the sons of disobedience (sinful man).”
You see, man’s sin nature is powerful. It causes us not to just meander, but to run from God. We flee from God’s laws and rules. We run from God and hide from God. When Adam and Eve ran towards self and ate of the tree of life, they “hid themselves” from God. (Gen 3:8) They were no longer looking forward to their daily walks with God, they were hiding from God, they were looking to avoid God. That my friends, is the ravaging effect of sin in our lives. It drives us from God. It will bring distance between us and our maker as we do our best to avoid and hide from God.
Mom and Dad love to tell me a story of about when I was very young tot at Christmas time. Mom would decorate our tree with real full sized candy canes. They would cover the tree, delicious candy everywhere. They said I would carefully take one off a low branch and then hide behind the tree and enjoy the goodness of the tasty peppermint treat. The funny part? They could see me. Hello, it’s a tree, they could see right through it. This story made me think this morning. Why did I hide? I’m sure I had been told either not to eat them or to only have one a day or something. I’m sure, if I know myself, I was breaking some rules. So young Dan has 2 choices in this story. Obey the rules or not. If I obeyed the rules would I hide? Absolutely not. There would be no reason. You see the absence of disobedience cause us to walk confidently, not hide. One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 10:9, “a man of integrity walks securely.” We can walk securely when we are obedient to God. The second choice though, is an awful tasty one. It’s hanging right there. Ripe for the taking. The only problem? I have been given a rule that says don’t. I do. After disobedience we do not walk securely. We hide from God. We flee from the presence of God. We hide behind the tree as we enjoy our desires.
So, if we are running in the wrong direction, how do we turn around and start running towards God? Well, first of all, you should know as we have been saying so far, it’s not natural for man to run towards God. It will feel very strange. It’s also important to note that this will not sit well with Satan. You have been drawing from his energy all this time and he will not simply give up and let you change your running strategy, mid-race. But it can be done. How? It all starts with one word, faith. Believing that it can all change. You have to believe first. I am a sinner and I am running in the wrong direction. I need to turn around. Where do I get faith? From God. Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The Word of God will provide everything you need. Pursue it. Chase it. Run after it. "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." James 4:8
My friends, there is a real battle for the direction of your race today. If your going to run towards God, you can’t run towards self. You can’t have both. There can only be one goal, one finish line, one God in you life.
“And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Luke 9:23-24
Stay the course, run straight and keep your eyes on Jesus. He will give you the energy to run the race. He will give you the endurance to overcome all obstacles that will appear. He is all we need.
“let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
May God bless your race today and may you get your energy from time in His Word.
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