Pluggin’ Away at Runnin’ the Race

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Pluggin’ away is like other sayings we have like, “keep your nose to the grindstone” or “keep your shoulder to the wheel.” These phrases all express a person’s persistent determination to keep working hard to accomplish an arduous task or to endure an overwhelming trial. Life often finds us in these situations and Christians are not exempt from attempting to keep their faith strong and resilient as they deal with tough situations. God allows these events to come into our lives to grow us, mold us and sometimes to test us. He loves us the way we are, but does not want to leave us that way. God wants us to be who we were created to be, a servant of His who is disciplined, holy and faithful. Out of this dedicated commitment to Him we seek to love and serve others. Our Heavenly Father shapes us into this person by placing us in difficult situations at times so that our faith will be tested and matured. He asks that we trust Him and that He will get us through the trials we face. He gives us these opportunities to obey and serve so that we can benefit from the experience and become stronger in our faith.

 

Paul, the apostle, was a man God placed in such arduous situations. He was used in many ways to spread the gospel and minister to others. If Paul had chosen to slack off from his calling as a man of God, Christian history would be significantly different. He traveled the world and had many exciting and miraculous experiences. He wrote the majority of the New Testament and ministered all over the known world. He spoke to thousands of people and many of these were powerful rulers, but this did not come without cost.

 

In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul talks about what he had gone through to serve his Savior. Listen to what he endured.

 

“Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.”

 

Paul is attempting to communicate his physical and emotional endurance credentials to the Corinthian Christians. They were a prideful people and he wanted to share with them his dedication to the Lord’s work to verify his commitment and qualifications of faith. But Paul was also humble and later in the chapter he states, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”

 

So we see that Paul was tenacious at continuing to serve God despite what struggles God allowed to take place in his life. He was fully committed to keep “pluggin’ away” at spreading the gospel, preaching the truth and living for his Savior.

 

Earlier in 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 he speaks of what he and other Christians were doing in their walk as a Christian to be an example for Christ. He states, “We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” We should learn from not only Paul’s example but also first century Christians what true commitment may cost us as we live for Christ.

 

God wants to bless us with peace, joy and physical comfort, but He also wants us to be mature and committed in our faith. Growing this type of faith means enduring hardships that come in our lives. Life is full of struggles in many ways. Physically we deal with illness and disease. Emotionally we are often mistreated by others, sometimes even by those who should love us the most.

 

Psychologically we are tortured at times by manipulation and abuse against us by people. Spiritually we are attacked by Satan and his demons. The sinful flesh will also drag us down to the depths of sin if we let it. The pressures of life will push their heavy thumb upon us to attempt to get us to cry “uncle.” But despite these trials, God will help us prevail. God never puts us in a situation that He knows we can’t handle with His help. Often we feel we cannot endure one more second or minute of the hardship we are in, but if it remains in our lives it means God knows we are up for the task with His help. He never tests us beyond our endurance that is fueled with His holy power. We can do it, and we can keep “pluggin’ away” at the life we are called to live, the race we are meant to run with His strength.

 

Each of us as a Christian has been given and entrusted with natural abilities, talents as well as spiritual gifts and these are meant to be used as we grow in the Lord. We also have the free gift of salvation made possible by the death of Christ on the cross. We have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to live within us to guide, comfort and intercede for us. We have been given God’s Word to instruct us. We have been given the privilege of becoming a member of God’s family where we can receive support in the local church body we belong to. So much has been given to us and much is required (Luke 12:48). We are called to live a holy and pure life, living as Christ lived, serving and ministering to others as we share the truth of the gospel. So all of us, no matter what God has entrusted us with, need to keep “pluggin” away at “runnin'” the race we are called to run.

 

Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 talks about this race that we must keep striving to run with God’s help. It says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

 

Paul did not literally “beat his body,” but he did attempt to train and subdue its passions so that he could live the life of holiness to which he was called. We have the same challenge. We must run the race just like Paul, subduing our bodily desires, strengthening our weaknesses and growing in our faith. We do this by maturing in our faith through the trials we face.

 

Paul had a close relationship with the Lord and the Holy Spirit would miraculously direct him in his journeys. Acts 20:22-24 tells of how he was directed by the Holy Spirit where to go and what to expect when he got there. It says, “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” We see in the last part of this passage that Paul again, has a tenacious desire to keep “pluggin'” away at “runnin'” the race set before him by the Lord.

 

2 Timothy 4:6-8 tells us how Paul ended his race. “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” Let us follow Paul’s example that was modeled after that of our Savior. Let’s keep “pluggin'” away at living a godly life, bringing glory to God as we minister to others and tell them of the salvation available in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

 

 Hebrews 12:1-5

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

 

The life of a true Christian is a “long obedience in the same direction.”