Experienced runners know if they can just keep going, eventually they’ll get their ‘second wind.’ It’s a release of adrenalin that makes you feel like you could run all day. And we can apply this to our spiritual lives too. We need to keep running, even when it feels hard, until we get our second wind. Paul says: ‘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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he 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 sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart’ (vv.1-3 NIV). Jesus endured the cross, and we need to endure the troubles we’re facing on our journey. What we’re going through right now is temporary – so let’s keep running and look ahead for our breakthrough. In the Old Testament, God told Isaiah, ‘Comfort my people…tell them that their time of service is finished, that they have paid for their sins’ (Isaiah 40:1-2 NCV). Then He went on to make the people this amazing promise: ‘The rough ground should be made level, and the rugged ground should be made smooth. Then the glory of the Lord will be shown, and all people together will see it. The Lord himself said these things’ (vv. 4-5 NCV). God was promising them that their hard times would end, and that things would get better for them. So until God promises that in our lives, let’s keep running with perseverance.
