The Bigger Picture

Eliud Kipchoge is described as ‘the greatest marathoner of the modern era,’ and it is said that he has won 12 out of 13 marathons he entered in, and he came 2nd in the one he lost. The last marathon he ran at a special event in Vienna, Austria, made him a world record breaker in terms of his time as he ran 1:59:40 to the finishing line (42 KM)! It was so fun to watch and even breathtaking, seeing this skinny man-marking a historical moment. However, we tend to ignore the cost and efforts put in for such outstanding achievements.

There are a lot of sacrifices that Eliud has to make as he prepares for his marathons. Looking at one of his training logs in 2017, something stands out about this man-He is so disciplined, consistent, and strategic in his training. He trained daily for three months regularly, mostly morning hours and evening hours, and did an average of more than 20KM//day in preparation for just one marathon! That hard work, and must be very painful. And he has to watch his diet on top of that. He had a slogan, ‘No Human Is Limited,’ as he was preparing to break his last record and told us that there is a need for mental preparation.

Hebrews 12 comes after chapter 11, which is known as ‘the Bible Hall Fame”. It gives a list of men and women that the Bible recognizes as heroes of the faith because they faithfully walked with God. Each of them had a race to run in their own time, and they won the prize. The common denominator among them is what they had to endure-the battles they had to fight both physical and spiritual, the trials and temptations they had to stand against, and the shame and fear they had to overcome before they got their rewards.

Hebrews 12 starts by showing us that we have no excuse not to run our race by referring back to those heroes mentioned in chapter 11 (a cloud of witnesses). They were not born heroes, but they became heroes because they could pay the price to win the prize. The Bible goes on to give us a clue of how they were able to make it to the finishing line by giving us the perfect hero-the hero par excellence (heroes listed in chapter 11 had their flaws, and one can even wonder how some of them made it to the list!) who has ever lived on the face of the earth and who lives forever- Jesus Christ the Son of God. After giving us scenarios of humans like ourselves who made it to the Hall of Fame of God, the Hebrew writer is telling us that we have a perfect example to look up to as our model. He immediately brings in the aspect of humanity, he had to identify with him- He went through a lot of suffering (the cross). He had to endure so much and what caused him to go all the way and win the race was the prize that was set before him-the joy to see you, and I redeemed and reconciled back to God. In all three examples (Eliud Kipchoge, Bible heroes, and Jesus), the prize is the defining factor or the motivation that made them enroll and run the race to the end. They had a bigger why and made them overlook all the costs they had to pay. They looked at the bigger picture, and everything else became dim!

There is a race marked for each one of us to run. Some of us need to enroll and those already registered need to understand that we don’t just show up for our race. Eliud Kipchoge had to invest his time and energy in training, Jesus had to live his heavenly comfort, and those heroes of faith had to make a lot of sacrifices. The Hebrew writer tells us, “to lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Runners have to be free to run the race. They can’t carry any luggage, and they have to be within a particular range of body weight, and they wear particular sportswear (light) to ease their movement. The race that is set before us requires that we walk in love and freedom from the bondage of sin, knowing that Jesus won the race for us.

Study Verse: Heb.12:1-2 [ESV]

Shalom-Peace be to you!

Betty

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