What does the Bible mean by the race of life?
The race of life is Scripture's picture of the believer's course: God has set a race before every one of us, and we choose whether to run it, how to run it, and whether to endure to the finish.
The race has three phases. The start is salvation, which happens in a split-second. The distance is spiritual growth - the hardest part, because it is a process and every process takes time. The finish is death or the Rapture, which again happens in a split-second.
The race is a source of joy to the one who has built strength and trained; a strong man loves the challenge of it, and the Christian way of life is enjoyable when we follow the training program. Endurance comes from persistent study of the Word of God, and we will not be any more persistent in application than we are in study. Everything in the cosmos is set against our keeping that focus, so each of us chooses whether we will give in to the distractions and entanglements or press on to finish with honor.
Source: The Basics The Basics, Unit 3 - The Race of Life (pp. 123-128) · Read this lesson in the book →
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