Several books in the Bible (all possibly written by Paul) refer to "the race" as an analogy to our Christian lives. This is a distinctly New Testament analogy because it refers to Greek foot races such as we see in the Olympics. Because we know that it refers to Greek races, we can make some connections that Paul (and possibly another author in the case of Hebrews) expected his Greek-educated audience to know.
In the original Olympic games, runners had to train for their events just as any modern athlete would. Before competing in the games, they had to vow before a statue of Zeus that they had been in training for ten months. They then ran a race that varied in length depending on the time period, with the winner being crowned with a laurel wreath. This was their chief prize, the branch of an olive tree.
There's an interesting story from Herodotus about the Battle of Thermopylae (the battle shown in the movie 300). The story goes that when Xerxes questioned one of the Arcadian soldiers about why so few Greek men had shown up to fight, the soldier replied that they were competing in the Olympic games. Xerxes, presumably curious why the games took precedence over a battle, asked what the prize was for the victor, to which the soldier answered that they received an olive wreath. One of Xerxes' generals then said, "What kind of men are these against whom you have brought us to fight? Men who do not compete for possessions, but for honor" (Herodotus, The Histories).
Whether or not the story is true, I don't know; Herodotus wasn't the most vigilant fact-checker. But the idea is there, that for ten months these Greek athletes train to run a race against men from every city-state of Greece, and all for a branch of olive that would wither and die. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 refers to this when it says:
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable."
We are all running a race, and like every athlete we must exercise self-control in all things. But it is all the more important for us to train for this race and to run as though we are trying to win a prize, because while the ancient Greek athletes did all of this for a temporary crown that would dry up and crumble, we receive an everlasting crown.
In Hebrews we are told to cast off all of our sins, everything that weighs us down in this race so that we may run with endurance. But for our prize, we are told to look towards Jesus, who waits for us at the end of our race, who has already purchased our prize.
Will the race be easy? Of course not. But the prize is worth running for. Just as for the Greeks in Herodotus' story, they gain no valuable possessions, but they gain honor. We gain honor by running our race faithfully, by casting off our weights and running with endurance. Jesus ran his own race on earth, did you know that? In Hebrews 12:2 it says that "for the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." He ran the race in spite of hardship; it says he despised the shame, the Greek word used for despising means that he thought little of it. He had a joy to look forward to, one that was set before him, just as Hebrews says that our race is set before us. We don't choose our race, it is one hand picked for us by God.
So what do we run for? Hebrews says that to run with endurance, as Jesus did, we must look to Jesus Himself. In 2 Timothy Paul says that he has run his race, his death is near but he has a satisfaction and a peace about how he ran his race, how he lived. Because of this, he is ready to receive his prize, in verses 4:7-8 Paul says: "I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing."
In a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize. But in our race, all who have loved, all who have delighted in Jesus will receive an everlasting, never fading crown of righteousness. We, who would have no hope of running the race without Him. We who stumble, and fall, and doubt, and sin, and give up. We who don't train as we should and therefore do not possess the endurance necessary. When we finish our race, Jesus will gift us, us, with a crown of righteousness.
So run the race. Look to Jesus, and run.
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