Day 236 A Time to Run

Running is one of the worst things ever invented. It's so bad that it must be an argument against the existence of God. This must be why God gave us grace--so that we can "run and not be weary." Needless to say, some of us are built for comfort, not for speed.

The problem with running for its own sake is that it's hard: it tires you out, makes your lungs ache, your body sore, and drains your mental resolve. Running is only really becomes acceptable when it's done for some other good purpose, like during a team sport--and it that case, it's a necessary evil. ;p

There’s a certain inertia that attaches itself to our life in this world, a tendency that makes us want to rest and be comfortable--and running is decidedly uncomfortable, and it's the difficulty of running makes it a good image of the Christian life.

Although there aren’t any accounts in the Bible about Jesus running, there aremany examples using the image of running. Isaiah says, “They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Paul, looking back on his life, says that he has “finished the race.” In both cases, it's the difficulty of running that is referred to: the weariness, the obstacles, the suffering.

Running as suffering is an image of our call to sanctification and becoming more like Christ. In that way, giving up something for Lent represents living out in a tangible way the “dying to self” that is a key of the Christian life....Making running a kind of ascetic practice, designed to discipline our bodies and our souls and orient the path of our life toward rest in Christ.

Another story about running in the Bible is Joseph running from Potiphar’s wife. “She caught him by his cloak and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.” The Heidelberg Catechism describes the “dying-away of the old self” as being “genuinely sorry for sin,” causing us to “more and more hate and run away” from sin.

Our friend Kate Kooyman says, "running is a terrible thing, unless you are running away from something." During Lent this year, how about running away from sin, like Joseph did.

God, give Sarah the grace to persevere to the end of the race like Paul did, and take comfort in God, who, “makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.”