Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, November 8th. For believers, life should be a purposeful journey guided by the goal of becoming more like Christ. Today, we'll be challenged to carefully and triumphantly run the race of life. As you look back over your life through these years, it may be a very few or it may be many, and you had to answer the question, where are you going in your life? How would you answer that? And if they should ask you, what are you trying to accomplish in life? How would you answer that? But suppose they were to ask you, what have you accomplished so far?
What would you say? Isn't it amazing how we sort of get in the race of life and we just sort of run? And in fact, it's almost painful sometimes to look back and see how many times we've stumbled or maybe are fearful of looking back to see how little we may have accomplished or to even stop and examine and ask yourself the question, man, am I even on the right track? Am I doing what God has called me to do or am I just doing what I decided to do? You see, if God doesn't have a plan for your life, it really isn't making a difference what you do, just do what you please.
But if God has a purpose and a plan for your life, it makes a great deal of difference which way you're headed, what track you're on, what you're trying to accomplish, what you set out to achieve in life, how fast you're going, who you're going with, and what you intend to accomplish at the end of the way. Let me ask you this. When you pass from this life to the next life and you stand face to face with God, what do you want Him to be able to say about your life? Well, most of us could come up with something that we'd just love to have Him say. Well, let me ask you this.
On the basis of what you want Him to say when you stand before Him, are you living in a manner that'll make it possible for Him to say that honestly? You see, as long as I can just keep moving in life and don't have to think too much, just keep moving, just keep moving, I don't have to answer those questions. I can sort of somehow just brush those questions aside and just keep moving. And if you'll read with me in Hebrews chapter twelve, verse one, chapter twelve, Therefore, having talked about all these saints in chapter eleven, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance in the sin which doth so easily beset us or entangle us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. The originator of your race is not you, but God.
You had nothing to do with being born. God brought you into this world, and He originated the race you're running. Now, the origin of it's real simple. The Christian race begins the moment you receive Christ Jesus as your Savior.
That's the origin of it. Now, what we have to ask is, what is the objective of it? Listen to what He says. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside these encumbrances and run with endurance the race that is set before us. It is God who set the race.
And so we have to ask, what is the objective? What is it that God had in mind when He created you? When He saved you, what did He have in mind for your life? Has He just left you here to make your own choices about how you're going to spend your life, where you're going to spend it, who you're going to spend it with, how you're going to spend your time? Or does God have anything to do personally? Does He have any plans for your life? Has He laid out the track for you to run on? That is, what is His objective in giving you a direction for your life? Because I believe He has.
It's my personal conviction that when God saves you, you get on the track of God's plan for your life, and from that moment on, you may get off the track at times, but from that moment on, if you're willing to be obedient to God, your life will be the unfolding of God's will for you as a person. He's the one who started the whole race. And He's the one who set the objective out there. You see, our objective is not to outrun someone else. Unlike these kind of races, we're not trying to outrun anybody. We're not trying to beat anybody.
Our objective is not to win over someone else. Our objective is to fulfill God's purpose, which is to be shaped and conformed to the likeness of Christ. So the race for us is a lifetime of what? Running, but in essence living, experiencing, suffering, enjoying, but all the time heading toward the objective that God has set, which is to be conformed to His likeness. So if His objective for your life is to conform you to His likeness, there are a lot of mundane things in life that are very secondary. And what you and I have to ask as believers is this.
What am I living for? You see, I'll tell you who's winning the race. Those folks are winning the race who have committed themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Lord, whose life is governed by this book because this is the compass, this is the guidebook, and this is the map on the trip. And those who have discovered that Christ is their very life, therefore their energy, their strength, and all that they need, those are the folks who are winning the race, who set their mind and heart to be obedient to God, they're winning the race. Now listen, they may even stumble and fall at times. They're winning. You know why they're winning? Because they're eyes on the goal. You can take a slow, very, very slow kind of a person who's a little laid back, but who understands that if you're going to accomplish anything, you set your eye on the goal and you fasten it there, and in spite of what happens, you don't focus your attention anywhere else but on the goal.
That person will beat you every time. You know what causes us to lose? We get wandering eyes. Well, I wonder how it is over there. How is it over here? I wonder how it is over there.
My goodness, it looks better over there. You'll never get anywhere looking any other direction than where God wants you to look. So He says, as you and I begin to examine the race, we know that God originates it. It started the moment you and I were saved. The objective is to be conformed to His likeness, but you and I have an opponent.
It's not each other. It is the devil. And all along the way, you know what he's doing? He's saying, hey, wait a minute, hold it, slow down, watch, look.
You know what he's trying to do? Get you off the track doing other than what God has called you to do, to slow you down, and if at all possible, get you out of the race, so to speak. Now, I know once you're saved, you're always saved. We're not talking about that.
We're talking about your walk. But listen to what he says in this passage. All along the way, if Satan is there to discourage me, look at whom I encourage you is. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every incumbence, the sin which does so easily entangle us, let us run with endurance the race that's set before us. Who's the one who's encouraging us?
This great cloud of witnesses, he says, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Now, how can these folks encourage us? Are they up in heaven looking over the ramp and saying, come on, don't listen to the devil, get in there.
No, I wish they were, because sometimes I'd like to listen, wouldn't you? I don't think that's what he's referring to here, because you see, we already have in this book biographies, short biographies, long biographies of great saints, this whole cloud of witnesses. And we don't just have them up in heaven saying, come on. We, listen, you and I have the encouragement of how God has worked in their life. We have the principles that God has given to us in the book to guide us and encourage us in my own life, the greatest encouragement to me to be obedient to God, growing up, was reading the Old Testament and seeing what God did in the life of this cloud of witnesses. They were an encouragement to me. So I figured, God, if you'll do that in their lives, what will you do in my life?
If they obeyed you and that's what you did, what will you do if I obey you? We have a tremendous, a great cloud of witnesses, he says, who are there to encourage us, and the way they encourage us is by reading and watching and looking how God worked in their life and how, as a result, God was able to work through them. And look at this word when he talks about endurance and the race. He says, laying aside these things that encumber us, so they won't be entangled, let us run with endurance. Now the word endurance means to bear up under something. Now he's talking about living life.
So if we're talking about bearing up under something, we're talking about bearing up under pressure. So what is the message here? The message is that, friend, life is not going to be easy. In fact, it's just going to be downright tough at times, amen? Sometimes it gets too tough, amen? So, you see, running a race, you've watched the race and they're straining and they're running and they're just giving it all they've got. That's not easy. Life's not easy. And when he says it's like a race, it demands something of us.
It demands concentration. Where are you headed? What are you trying to accomplish?
And let me just say this again. I'm going to ask you this question again because here's what I keep finding among people all the time. What are you living for?
They can't answer that. Where are you going in life? What do you mean where am I going? What are you trying to accomplish? Well, what do you think you've done in life so far? And it's amazing how many people who do not want to answer those questions.
You see, we need to answer them. Life is tough. That doesn't mean that I'm going to stop the race. You know why most people don't accomplish much in life? When the going gets tough, they start backing out and saying, well, I guess I misread God. Well, I guess, you know, maybe that wasn't God's will after all. Maybe I just, you know, let's just, you know, forget it. Count me out. You know, I'm just, forget it. You know what the problem is?
They don't have any determination and fortitude to be obedient to God when the devil throws those discouragements out there. You know how you get discouraged? You take your eyes off the goal. You take your eyes off the goal, what happens? You begin to look around and the next thing you know, you're down in the dumps.
It's not going to be easy. He says, listen, he uses the word endurance, bearing up under the race that is set before us, that is holding up when the pressure gets tough, holding up when there's criticism, holding up when everybody seems to be against you, holding up when nobody seems to care, holding up when you can't quite see your way clear, but you know that God has called you to do something, that is He has set your direction. What do you do? Are you just floundering in life or are you going somewhere? Are you running a race or are you just walking across the field? That is, the real question is, what are you living for?
You see, every single one of us ought to answer that for ourselves very frequently. He says we're running a race. Now, who's the one who enables us to do this?
Listen to what he says. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. You know what that means? That means not only did He give me the faith to trust Him, but He's there to supply all I need all the way to the end of the trip. All the way to the end of the author and finisher, the perfecter of my faith.
He which hath begun a good work in you will do what? He's going to keep it going until the race is over. So here's the wonderful thing about the race. You and I never have to take one step on the track by ourselves. Christ Jesus, who is our strength and our life, is on the inside running with us.
Now, you're talking about encouraging, friend. Listen, haven't you been some places in your life you thought, oh, boy, am I by myself? No, you can't ever be by yourself once you've trusted Christ as your Savior. He came in to do what? To walk with you when you walk, run with you when you run. Even when you have to crawl, He's there crawling with you.
You can't take a step without Him. Running the race, enabled by, strengthened by, encouraged by. Let me ask you a question. When the going gets rough with you in your life, do you like to hear people encourage you? I've never met anybody who didn't need a little encouragement every once in a while. Who did you encourage last? When's the last time you reached over and encouraged somebody else who was running?
And especially if they were behind. You and I like encouragement. When is the last time you just stopped to encourage somebody? Warm handshake or a big hug or just a word to them, listen, I just want you to know I'm praying for you. I just want you to know that I love you.
I just want you to know, I just want to encourage you in what you're doing. When's the last time you did it? Let me ask you, Dad.
When's the last time you said that to your son or your daughter? Have you ever walked up to anybody, and I mean they were down in the dumps, and you gave them a warm handshake, and you know what they did as soon as you did it? Their whole countless lit up, right? You know what? You know where it lit up first?
It lit up on the inside before it got to their face, and it got there pretty fast. We all need encouragement. Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, He's the one who is our indwelling encourager.
Now listen to this one last couple of things here. He says, running this race, let us lay aside every encumbrance. You know what an encumbrance is? In your Christian life, you know what an encumbrance is? Any attitude, any action, any habit that hinders your walk with God, your running in the race, anything that hinders your walk or your race is an encumbrance. You know what sin is to the believer?
Sin is to the believer like a runner in a race putting on about 30 pounds of lead around his waist and walking up to the starting line and watching them fire the gun. And he just, he's got 30 pounds around him, and they're off and running down the track. Incumb, that is hindered thinking. That is weighted thinking that's holding them down. And they keep trying to run saying, you know, I don't know what's wrong with me.
I'll tell you what's wrong. If your thinking is encumbered, you can't run successfully. So he says, laying aside, you know what that means?
Here's what it means. Identifying what the encumbrance is, repenting of it before God, and listen, choosing to walk away from what was hindering you in the walk. You just walk away from it. A lot of believers who want to get right with God and want things to go right, but you know what they do? They take off most of the weights, but they keep just enough to weigh them down.
And I want to ask you, think clearly, what is it in your thinking that's hindering your joyful, successful, achieving, inspiring, motivating walk with Almighty God? Laying it aside. How do you lay it aside? You choose to lay it down by faith and repentance before God. You know what happens? All of a sudden, you get this free, wonderful, liberated feeling. And here's what happens. You pick up speed. Your direction begins to get clarified. You begin to achieve.
You begin to succeed in areas where you've been failing. You see, if God has set you on the track, but you're not making it in the race, what you need to do is to stop and ask yourself the question, what is it that's weighing me down and hindering my running the race? Now, if the real truth is known and we took the time, if you're being hindered in the race, every single one of us could identify it for ourselves. So, identification's not the problem.
You know what the problem is? Motivation. Am I willing? Is my love and devotion for Christ? Is my desire to become what God wants me to be?
Are my goals in life worth getting rid of the encumbrance for? And if they are, if you lay the encumbrance down, God will pick up your feet, friend, and something fascinating will begin to happen in your life. Thank you for listening to today's podcast titled, Running the Race of Life. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia. .
