Run

DEVOTION
GALATIONS
RUN
Gal 5:7-8
7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.
NIV
To run the race is the point of it all, but I think perhaps the idea here is not just the running but the fact of running on the right track. Of what value would it be to run a race on the in the wrong track and field event? Why in the world would I want to cross the wrong finish line? Now even being on the right track and running in the correct race, it might be difficult to work through all the other runners to get to the finish line. Not that I want to be first, but I simply want to get there, to the right finish line. Could some of those other runners be there just to cut me off and keep me from getting to the finish? Are they trying to cut me off intentionally? They may be a few, but I have to believe most of the runners are well intentioned people who have themselves been cut off and kept from obeying the truth. I have to believe these people believe they are following the truth as their understand it. The trick is not for me to get catch up in their version of the truth, not to be cut off from the absolute truth of the gospel. I have to ask myself if I have allowed myself to be cut off even some small way. Have I allowed those other runners, those fellow Christians, to get in my way of getting to the finish line? They may make every effort to persuade me to think as they do and to accept those additional rules and regulations in order to be a good Christian, but I will not give in, I will not get cut in on, I will run the race set out for me by Christ and Christ alone. No, I am running the right race; I am running in the right track and field event. I am on the right course, at the right time, running the race, fighting the good fight, headed for the finish line God himself established for me to get to. I wonder if maybe some have just sat down, content with where they are on the track, and are trying to get me to sit down with them, to rest. Or maybe some have the idea they have reached the finished line already, and are just sitting waiting for their gold medal and are trying to make me see I am there also. I do not think that is a wise idea. Sometimes I wish I could get to the front so as to lead some of my friends in that same direction, clearing the way for them to see the race once again and to be able to have a clear vision of the true finish line. Wow, that sounds a bit arrogant, but not so, compassionate is more my feelings. I am sad when I see them being cut in on or stagnate in their race. Maybe if I just keep running the race, as set out by Christ that will be enough. In any case, I have, I am and I will continue to run.