Purchased of God
59
very best condition to run. If they were not temperate in all things,
they would not have that elasticity that they would have if they were.
If temperate, they could run that race more successfully; they were
more sure of receiving the crown.
But notwithstanding all their temperance, all their efforts to subject
themselves to a careful diet in order to be in the best condition, those
who ran the earthly race only ran a venture. They might do the very
best they could, and yet after all not receive the token of honor; for
another might be a little in advance of them and take the prize. Only
one received the prize. But in the heavenly race we can all run, and all
receive the prize. There is no uncertainty, no risk, in the matter. We
must put on the heavenly graces, and, with the eye directed upward to
the crown of immortality, keep the Pattern ever before us. He was a
Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief. The humble, self-denying
life of our divine Lord we are to keep constantly in view. And then as
we seek to imitate Him, keeping our eye upon the mark of the prize,
we can run this race with certainty, knowing that if we do the very best
we can, we shall certainly secure the prize.
Men would subject themselves to self-denial and discipline in order
to run and obtain a corruptible crown, one that would perish in a day
and which was only a token of honor from mortals here. But we are
to run the race, at the end of which is a crown of immortality and
everlasting life. Yes, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory
will be awarded to us as the prize when the race is run. “We,” says the
apostle, “an incorruptible.”
[48]
And if those who engaged in this race here upon the earth for a
temporal crown, could be temperate in all things, cannot we, who
have in view an incorruptible crown, an eternal weight of glory, and
a life which measures with the life of God? When we have this great
inducement before us, cannot we “run with patience the race that is set
before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith”?
Hebrews 12:1, 2
. He has pointed out the way for us and marked it all
along by His own footsteps. It is the path that He traveled, and we
may, with Him, experience the self-denial and the suffering, and walk
in this pathway imprinted by His own blood.