I had the pleasure of attending a chapel service at our staging post this morning, and lo and behold, the focus of the sermon was on running the race of faith.
If you had to guess what the topic would be before attending a chapel service in the Army, and you guessed something to do with running the race of faith, you would have decent odds of being correct. Chaplains preach on that biblical metaphor all the time, probably because it's very applicable to soldiers.
The strength of these sermons often comes in their emphasis on the law in the Christian life. It is important for Christians to hear the constant biblical imperatives (commands/what you should do) that structure their life in gratitude for the Gospel.
The weakness of these sermons often comes in their neglect of the Gospel in the Christian life. It is important for Christians to hear the constant biblical indicatives (statements of fact/what has been done for you) that provide the basis for the imperatives and the way we ought to live.
The practical way to do this with the race passages is to first apply the law--here is how we are to run, and man, do we often fail to run in this manner! But then we focus on the more important race. Paul tells us that unless Christ was raised, our faith is in vain. The race that defines our lives is not the one we run, but the one Christ ran perfectly in our place.
In fact, Hebrews 11 and 12 gives us a biblical basis for thinking this way. Hebrews 11 focuses on an array of Old Testament believers who heard the Word concerning the promised Messiah and walked with absolute assurance and conviction that the Messiah would indeed come and usher them into a heavenly promised land, whose builder and maker is God.
Just after this section, we are told that since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses (witnesses of what?), we are to lay aside the sin that so easily entangles and run the race with perseverance. But this imperative is immediately followed by the indicative:
2 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.
We are to follow the example of the Old Testament believers in that we look to Jesus first in order to run the race. They still look to Jesus--that is what makes them a cloud of witnesses. They might also bear witness/testimony to our race, but they do so with eyes afixed on Christ, who was proven faithful to save them. They witness/testify to us that this race begun by faith in Christ, sustained by faith in Christ, and rewarded by faith in Christ, will not prove to be in vain.
You see, Jesus first ran the race. He withstood the mighty blows of Satan in the desert, the brokenness of this world, and the betrayal of mankind. Yet He kept His eyes affixed on the prize of securing His people to the loving heart of their God, considered His daunting race nothing but joy, endured the brutal final stretch in which He died as a sacrifice for sinners, and is not seated on the victor's platform as Savior, King, and Judge of this world. We run because He ran first and won. Praise be to God. We now run with joy before us.
One of the great joys of this life is that in marriage, God has set beside us a partner to join us in this race. When I stumble, my wife, by God's grace, helps me regain my step, and vice-versa. Part of the beauty of this sanctification process is how my God-enabled sacrifice and her God-enabled submission creates a beautiful spiral of deepening love and perseverance.
Neither sacrifice or submission is easy in the least. In fact, it is dangerous. History, including in the Church, is littered with tyrannical men who exploited their wives' vulnerable submission, and with seditious wives who exploited their husbands' vulnerable sacrifice. Such exploitation creates the opposite effect of the joyous sanctification spiral--a descending spiral of sin, decay, and death.
I am much more reluctant to lead than my wife is to have me lead. I think this is part of the sanctification spiral. I talk of future dreams--church work, chaplaincy, Africa--and expect that such ruminations will terrify my wife and cause anxiety and resentment. In the past, such talk did inspire anxiety and I was more reluctant to share such dreams (both of us showing our frailty in such exchanges). She likely saw the fickleness and insecurity in my dreaming, and was sensibly reluctant. I was sense the reluctance and become more insecure.
Yet, despite these frailties of a young married couple, she always gave me that pledge of Ruth to Noami, "Where you go, I'll go. Where you lodge, I'll lodge." Even in her vulnerability, she would trust me and trust the Lord with our future, wherever He took us.
But she has become more proactive on that front, and I think this deployment, surprisingly enough (from a worldly perspective) has been used to make her bolder. Her response to my ruminations on any future options during this past year has been "I'm open." Early on in our marriage, there were many more "I don't knows." But in the past year, before I can even start giving various reasons and justifications for different options, she'll preempt me with "I'm open." Her starting point is not fear, but trust and willingness to explore all options.
As a result, I think of the future with more freedom and more wisdom. I don't have to fear my wife's anxiety and uncertainly. She trusts me and she trusts the Lord. What I fear is taking that trust for granted. So I strive harder to act with greater discernment and humility, striving to honor her submission with my sacrifice.
Over the years, in our insecurity, we have both desired to have peace and wisdom of believers much older and more mature than us. I think we have both wondered what would happen when our sin and frailties were put to the test in great trials (like a post-surgery, post-pregnancy deployment and consequent single motherhood of a firstborn child). What we have learned, more than ever, is that God transforms us through the suffering more than He does in preparation for it.
It's analogous to marriage and parenting. People often talk about how they're "not ready" for these phases of life. No one is or will ever be ready. Marriage and parenting are not the final product--they are a lifelong process of learning and growing. You become a better spouse and parent, by God's grace, through being a spouse and parent. You become a more persevering follower of Christ through being a follower of Christ over time and through suffer and learning anew the joys of the Gospel.
Together, my wife and I have run a Ragnar-like race this past year--running through mud that slows us down and braving a chill that cuts to the bone. But we are coming out on the other side stronger, with more trust in each other and in the Lord who was ever-faithful, and know that as Author and Perfecter of our faith, He will finish what He started. Now, the race truly begins.
