Life is a Race... Part II

First and foremost, apologies to the non-tri bloggers here, when I said "tri-bloggers" in Part I of this post, I really meant "all my blogging buddies out there". :) (Thanks dgc for the reminder!)
Once again, thanks for your patience for sitting through yet another of ol nitrox's rumblings. I promise I will get back to Training blogs after this.

In the interest of being a fair Dad, I am posting a picture of R2 in our weekly race to the club. Notice how disengaged he looks - he is a "passenger" on the child seat of my bike (yes, about time I got him a proper bike too).

Thanks for the very encouraging and insightful comments to Part I. To keep things short, I will single out only two:

1. Cliff spoke about the complacency that may come with thinking that we are ALREADY saved, so I've been thinking that maybe my dear R2 is showing the complacency that comes from thinking that he will finish/win the race by doing nothing. (Or maybe he is unhappy about being so near my ass.) ;)
2. NancyToby quoted James 2:17 (way to go, girl!), which if I may repeat in New International Version (NIV) says:
   "...faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
   Which gives me the perfect lead to Part II. ;)

So, if life is a race, isn't there a danger of "DNF"?

I have always felt that to DNF in life would take a lot and it does not apply to me. I guess I felt that it requires a conscious decision to turn away from God and is much more than just an ambivalent feeling of not really caring either way. However, while looking this subject, I also came across this rather chilling verse:

"Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received a full knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins. There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible expectation of God's judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies." (Hebrews 10:26-27, NLT)

If we read this verse in context, the words "no other sacrifice" refers to what the verses before these said - that Jesus is our High Priest who has cleansed us with His blood. In other words, if we know the full measure of the grace of God and yet keep on sinning, there comes a point when even Jesus' blood will not cleanse us - the point of no return!

I guess just like any sort of training or race, sometimes we fail to complete the race not so much by conscious decision to give up but by allowing ourselves to make small compromises along the way. E.g. in my case, each time I allow myself to over-eat or skip training "just this once" makes it all the more easier to make the next concession and so on...

But it is impossible not to compromise (sin), so what am I missing? My pastor taught today that the key is God's grace. It is God's love that compel's us to stay in the race (2 Corinthians 5:14). And I guess it is His continual grace that enables us to get pass the times when we do compromise, and to get back on track.

Sounds like a good training/race plan to me! :) God enabled us to participate in the race through His death on the cross, He is enabling us daily to continue the race thru the leadership/coaching from His Spirit (Galatians 5:17-18), and He has promised that His continuing grace is sufficient to bring us across the finish line (Philippians 1:6). Our part is to lean on His grace to avoid compromises, so as we do not "frustrate" His grace (Galatians 2:21).

Again, sorry for such a solemn post. On a brighter note, I am on track for a 5-training-session-week this week. That would be a training PR for me - plus some good news (finally) on my swim. ;) More on that next time. Meanwhile, train safe and God Speed!