RUN, DONT LOOK BACK

 

Brother Andrew smuggled Bibles behind the iron curtains to Christians oppressed under the communist regime. If caught the penalty would have been instant death. In his book “God smugglers” he wrote about how his solid faith in God that made him do such daring things started. He wrote “in September 1953 I walked up the hill carrying my suitcase. The building was a two storey house on the corner of a street.

Over the entrance on a wooden archway were the words “have faith in God”. This I knew was the main purpose of the two year course at Glasgow; to help the student learnt all he could about the nature of faith; to learn from books, from others and from his own encounter. With fresh enthusiasm I walked under the arch and up the white pebbled path to the door.

Mr Stewart Dinnen the director told me “The real purpose of this training is to teach our students that they can trust God to do what he has said he would do. We don’t go from here to traditional missionary fields but into new territories. Our graduates are on their own; they cannot be effective if they are afraid or if they doubt that God really means what he says in his word. I hope this is what you are looking for Andrew”. “Yes sir exactly” I replied.

One night I went out for a long solitary walk. There was a slum at the bottom of the hill. As I walked I knew these slum people receive a better income than the missionaries –in-training at the top of the hill. I could not understand why this bothered me so, my family was poor.  The question was not one of money but a relationship. If I was going to give my life as a servant of the King, I had to know that King. What was he like? In what ways could I trust him?

Could I trust him as a set of impersonal laws or a living leader, a very present commander in battle? The question was central because if he were a King in name only I would rather go back to the chocolate factory where I worked and be a good Christian there. But if on the other hand I were to discover that God was a person, in the sense that he communicated and cared and loved and led, that was something quite different. That was the king I would follow into any battle.

In Philippians 3:13-14 Paul wrote “Brethren, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal”. As he looks back to that memorable day when Christ apprehended him on that Damascus road, he recognizes that Christ had apprehended him for a Great Purpose (Acts 9: 3-16).

Several times in the New Testament the Christian life is pictured as a race. Paul uses that analogy to describe his own spiritual experience. He gives a picture an Olympic runner trying to make it to the end of a race. In so doing, he gives us some basic principles for spiritual growth. He uses the athletic analogy to teach us how to get into shape spiritually.

Christian life is not an idle business. We do not lie comfortably in a ship sailing heavenward, hoping to land and alight on Heaven’s shore someday.  We must labor to get there. In 2 Peter 1:5-11, the Bible describes what we should make every effort to do, to confirm our calling and election. That is what we must do to receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior. Paul instructed Timothy to train himself to be godly (1 Tim. 4:7-8).

Paul speaks of his effort in the Christian race, but he clarifies that behind his effort is the foundational fact that he was first apprehended by Jesus Christ. You cannot run the Christian race unless you are born again. Salvation is the “starting gun,” the beginning of the race to Heaven that we are all to run. We are told to run with endurance the race that God has set before us (Hebrews 12:1).

God has set us on the race. We are told to run in such a way that we may win the race (1 Cor. 9:24). The first thing to do is to make sure we are running the right race; the race marked out in the Word of God. Everyone goes somewhere in life. The righteous are racing to Heaven; the sinners are racing to Hell. You can start on one race but shift to the different race later. Paul was racing to Hell until he was comprehended.

You must always ensure that you are on the right race; the race set before you by God in his word. Run in the narrow path which leads to life. Make sure you have found the path; the Bible says only a few find it (Matt.7:14). The road to Hell is broad and full of travelers (Matt.7:13). Those who run a contrary race, the race the devil has set them on, run to do evil (Isa. 59:7). Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong (Ex. 23:2).

In Jeremiah 2, God asked the Israelites “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves (v.5). How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey sniffing the wind in her craving. Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them’ (vv. 23-25).

One day rebellious Absalom was riding on his mule. As the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom's head got caught in the tree. He was left hanging mid air, while his mule kept on going (2 Sam. 18:9). Sinners pursue sin as the bird hastens to the snare! (Prov. 7:23). Sin is a damnable race; wasting and destruction are in the path (Isa. 59:7); the end will be bitter! (2 Sam. 2:26).

The Christian race is not arbitrary and we do not run aimlessly (1 Cor. 9:26). There is a way in which we must run and there is a definite goal. We run the way of God’s commandments (Ps. 119:32). The way of sin is defiling, but the way of righteousness is paved with holiness (Isaiah 35:8). Those who run this race cleanse themselves from all pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor.7:1).

 Paul says “But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are ahead”. Every believer has a unique lane in which to run and a goal to achieve. Some runners are like Asahel, they are as fleet-footed as a wild gazelle. They can neither turn to the right nor to the left. They have their eyes fixed on the goal and nothing can make them stop (2 Samuel 2:18-21). They are swift in the race of obedience to God.

Forgetting what is behind does not mean obliterating the memory of the past. Paul recalled some people who had done him wrong. Paul had also to forget the past failures and the wrongs he had done. He had imprisoned and killed many Christians. He consciously refuses to dwell on past pains, discouragements and failures. He refuses to let them absorb his attention and impede his progress.

To dwell on them would cause him to retire before the race is finished. The load would be so heavy on him and finishing the race would seem impossible; he would just give up. The devil runs alongside believers whispering distractive and discouraging words, to slow them down or to make them leave the race. He will always bring up our past pains, mistakes and failures to try and achieve this.

Some people have trouble looking ahead with hope because they keep moping over the mistakes of the past. Their outlook for the future is dimmed and their enthusiasm is dampened. If you have repented and moved out of your sins, stop listening to the accusation of the enemy. Stop brooding over past failures, you cannot redo or undo the past. Heartbreaks and failures are inevitable, but do not allow their memories to follow you through life. While it is wise to learn from the past, we should not live in the past.

Paul had to forget the past accomplishments. No achievement could lull him into thinking he already accomplished all Christ desired for him.  He could not look back and say “I have done all that! It’s enough”.  Paul refused to be like the rich fool whose farm yielded an abundant harvest. Then he said to himself “you have plenty of grain laid up for many years; take life easy, eat drink and be merry” (Luke 12: 16-21).

Too often we are so wrapped up in what has been accomplished in the past that we cannot move forward. We can’t live on yesterday’s victory. When a season ends and you have a lot of success, don’t make it the last. There are many more seasons ahead. Forget what you have already achieved. Prepare for what is ahead and continue doing your best. As long as it’s still day keep running; the night will come when the running will have to stop.