{"id":693,"date":"2015-04-23T13:57:57","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T13:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/?p=693"},"modified":"2015-04-26T00:38:07","modified_gmt":"2015-04-26T00:38:07","slug":"the-race-marked-out-for-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/the-race-marked-out-for-us\/","title":{"rendered":"The Race Marked Out For Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…the Author and Finisher of our faith.”<\/em><\/p>\n

A week ago they ran the Boston marathon.\u00a0 It was special as people remembered the tragedy of last years race.\u00a0 However, in light of the verse above, I remember another one back on April 21, 1980.\u00a0 Rosie Ruiz came in first place for the women that year.\u00a0 It was the record for the fastest finish for a woman in the Boston marathon.\u00a0 In fact, it was the\u00a0fastest finish for a woman in any marathon.\u00a0 It was even more amazing because she was barely out of breath and not covered in sweat like other runners.\u00a0 When questioned\u00a0about her record breaking pace and\u00a0outstanding condition she said, “I got up with a lot of energy this morning”.\u00a0 Within a few days it was revealed that after starting the race she boarded the subway and\u00a0got off a half mile from the finish line.\u00a0\u00a0When this was discovered she was disqualified and stripped of the title\u00a0because…in case you didn’t know…that is cheating.<\/p>\n

It seems people are always looking for short cuts in any journey but the fact of the matter is…You cannot just run anywhere or any way that you choose when you are in a race. \u00a0You must run the course that has been set out for you. \u00a0This is true in any race you run. \u00a0On the track runners are assigned a lane to run in. \u00a0If they step out of the lane they can be disqualified.<\/p>\n

The Scripture tells us that we are to run the race “marked out for us”. \u00a0As Christians we are not just called to do just “anything”\u00a0and we are not called to just do “something”.\u00a0\u00a0We are called to do the things that God has marked out for us from the beginning. \u00a0Throughout the Bible we are told that God knew our days and had a plan before we were ever born. \u00a0In Ephesians Paul says that we are His workmanship created to do\u00a0“good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So…we are not called to just run any race.\u00a0 We are called to run the one marked out for us.<\/p>\n

And…guess what?\u00a0 There are no short cuts to accomplishing the things that God has for you.\u00a0 Whether you are trying to bypass a certain assignment (like Jonah) or trying to cut corners (like\u00a0Rosie Ruiz) you will end\u00a0up on the short end of the stick!<\/p>\n

Now some may claim that we should be able to run wherever we want to and however we wish.\u00a0 But that is\u00a0not running the race marked out before you.\u00a0 If you want to finish…you need to stay on course.\u00a0 How do we\u00a0 know what course God has marked out for us?\u00a0\u00a0 Start with God’s Word.\u00a0 In it God lays out the main principles to guide us in our faith journey.\u00a0 It tells us that He is the source of our strength from the beginning to the end…Author and finisher!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…the Author and Finisher of our faith.” A week ago they ran the Boston marathon.\u00a0 It was special as people remembered the tragedy of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all_posts","category-daily-devotions-2015"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":708,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions\/708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/parkwood.dreamhosters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}