If you are not a runner, you may not think of the words "run" and "patience" in the same sentence. After all, if you're running, you want to get somewhere fast! But if you've invested your time and energy in grueling practices and willed yourself to the finish line on a race track, you understand the importance of patience in running.
Winning the race requires the intensity of running and the determination of patience. Without patience to train and press on to the finish line, even the most talented runners would never win.
Born prematurely at 4 1/2 pounds, no one would have guessed the future of Wilma Rudolph. At age 4, she contracted polio, which twisted her left leg and foot and required her to wear braces. Doctors were confident that she would never walk again.
Taking advantage of any shred of hope, the doctors instructed Wilma's mother on how to massage Wilma's leg to prevent her from remaining permanently crippled. These massages were administered faithfully.
During a routine doctor visit, Wilma shocked her doctor when she removed her heavy brace and walked across the room without it. She then disclosed her secret - persistently and painfully, she had forced herself to walk a little each day. This was the turning point for Wilma. Soon, through patience and persistence, she was running.
At age 16, Wilma competed in the 1956 Olympics and returned home with a bronze medal in the 4 X 100-meter relay. Four years later, she returned from the 1960 Olympics with three gold medals - the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 4 X 100 meter relays.
Wilma's life demonstrates the necessity of patience in running a race. Without the patience to willingly endure pain, Wilma would never have walked without her brace, and she certainly would never have competed in the Olympic Games.
Patience in a race is the ability to endure until the finish line. It is the inner strength to refuse to become frustrated and quit when one is exhausted or cramping or injured.
Perhaps you are experiencing difficulties and have been tempted to fall out of your Christian race. Don't give up! Instead, grow in patience!
Hebrews 10:35-36
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
When situations come into our lives that require us to develop patience, we mature spiritually.
James 1:3-4
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
The runner has patience to continue his race because he remembers the end. He knows he will not run indefinitely. By running with patience, he will reach the finish line and victory.
The Christian runner, too, is encouraged when he remembers that as he trusts the Lord with patience, at the end of every trial, God has blessings. Trials don't last forever, but they do yield great joys. James 5:11 says, "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."
