One of my two sons was a runner. He ran medium distances and cross-country. I remember standing near the finish line at a track and field meet watching different races finish. One young guy had amazing Olympic style form. Every movement seemed so coordinated and oriented toward driving him forward. I declared to another dad standing next to me that that was winning form. One of the timekeepers was an elderly gentleman. He turned to me, stopwatch in hand and said, “It ain’t how you drive it’s when you arrive.” At the time it made all of us within earshot laugh. He was right about foot races. However, life is different. It is all about how you “drive” and “when” you arrive at the finish as a follower of Christ really is not paramount. What concerns me as I look back at my 50 years of following Christ is how many don’t ever arrive. They give up on their faith, throw in the towel, or leave the race all together. Others, it seems, throttle back and seem to plod across the finish line.

These realities stand in dissonance to Paul’s declaration to Timothy. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). What about you? Are you still running the race with the same vigor, joy, and expectation as when you first launched out of your spiritual starting blocks? Are you still putting to use the spiritual gifts and natural abilities the Lord has privileged you with for the sake of the glory of the name of Jesus?

One of the concerns I have today is that our pandemic exodus has resulted in spiritual lethargy made more evident by our recent recess from so many opportunities to utilize our passions and grow in our faith. Are we one of those runners who have backed off and are content to plod into the presence of the Lord? Or worse still, are we heading toward spiritual collapse, which usually is the product of an erosion of our heart’s affections.

Sunday, I want us to look forward with an expectant faith. God is still God, and God is still good. And we the church are the Bride of Christ. We have much to do to be prepared to present ourselves to our coming Groom.