By Dr Edward Tamale-Sali
As we start 2020, we are reminded by Apostle Paul that we are in a race with Jesus our Lord, running to the final touch line. I want you to broaden your imagination that Jesus is running with you. He promised in Mathew 28:20 that He will always be with each believer until the end.
In Philippians 3:9-15, Paul tells us: “…through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect… Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” All Christians who love the Lord are in this race. Most of us are aware about annual marathon races in different countries. In these natural marathon races, participants join with one goal in mind – to finish the race. However, many drop out along the way.
Some collapse and die. Meanwhile, the ultimate goal is not to win but to finish. Paul writes in Hebrews 12:1-2: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witness, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.”
In this race, unlike other races, every participant gets a golden prize – the eternal life God has promised to everyone that puts faith in Christ. Dear child of God, I encourage you to keep looking unto Jesus throughout this year and beyond. If you have backslidden, rise up and start running towards the finish line.
