RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

I want to welcome you to this last devotion that you’ll be going through on the app. I hope God has blessed you and touched your heart and that you have grown in Christ as we’ve gone through these four different levels. This last session, I want to talk to you about finishing well. God has given us a race to run.
In Hebrews, chapter 12, the Scripture says, “Since we have such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every sin and everything that so easily clings to us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.” I want to talk to you about that.
The Christian life is like a long-distance race. It’s like an endurance race, a marathon, so to speak. After I had been diagnosed with cancer a number of years ago, the Lord put it on my heart to run a marathon. I did that. I trained for a year and went through everything that needed to be done and did everything according to the book. I ran the original Greek marathon.
When I ran it, I was very confident, because I had prepared. I had done the work. I had put in the miles. The first 6 miles or 10 kilometers were flat, and then the next 20 kilometers were climbing a mountain range. Then the last 10 kilometers you went down into Athens, Greece, and you finished at the Olympic Stadium.
My thought was if I could just get to the top of the mountain range, I would be able to then easily go down into the city, because it would be downhill, and it would be great. So I trained, I practiced, I worked, and I was prepared. The first 10 kilometers went well. Of course, that was flat. The next 20 kilometers were difficult, but I had trained for it. I was prepared. I made it. But the last 10 kilometers were the most difficult of my life. I felt pain. My hips, my knees, my feet were burning. Everything just shut down on me.
I got to one kilometer before the finish, and I couldn’t move. I literally had to pick up one leg and put it in front of the other. I said, “Lord, what do I do here? I’ve trained for a year. I felt like you told me to do this, and now look at what’s happening right now.” Then I turned a corner, and two things took place. The first thing was there were Greek citizens lined up on the sides of the streets, and they were cheering, “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!”
I knew then that I could make it. Something happened. Strength came into my body, and I was able to pick up my legs and run. Do you know what I discovered? I discovered the power of encouragement. Sometimes we get tired. Sometimes we want to give up, but we need brothers and sisters around us who will say, “Hey, you can do it. Bravo! Hang in there. Keep going. Don’t give up.” It’s in that relationship with other people.  You’ve had a relationship in this process you’ve been going through, so I want to encourage you to continue strong relationships with other Christians. If there’s anything I have seen that will help people to really fulfill the mission God has given them, it’s having someone to be an encourager to them. I’ve had a group of men around me who have encouraged me, who’ve said, “Sammy, you can do it. Hang in there. Keep going.” Those men have been great encouragements to me.
There was a second thing that happened when I got to that place. First of all, I looked and I could see the end. I could see the banner at the end. When I saw the finish line, I knew no matter what it took, if I had to crawl on my hands and on my stomach, I was going to make it, because nothing could keep me from that finish line.
That’s why the Bible says in Hebrews, chapter 12, “Look unto Jesus, the author and the perfecter, the beginning and the end, the starting line, the finishing line. Look unto Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.” Get your eyes on him. Don’t lose sight of him. When you see him, I tell you there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can keep you from finishing the race and finishing well. I finished that race. I fulfilled that goal when I ran the Greek marathon. Nothing could keep me from finishing once I saw the finish line.
Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don’t look to the left. Don’t look to the right. Just keep your eyes on Jesus. People will fail you. Even though they will encourage you, they will fail you, but Jesus will never fail you. He will be your strength. He will be your encouragement. He will be your life. He will be the one who will enable you to finish well. So keep your eyes on Jesus.