It has been over 10 years since I attempted to run my first marathon. It all went smoothly until I was about 5 miles from the finish line and something happened: I hit the notorious “wall.” Suddenly, my legs felt as heavy as bricks and it literally took every ounce of strength and concentration I had to put one foot in front of the other. I started swerving and swaying and then…boom. Everything went black.
When I came to in the back of an ambulance a few minutes later, the first thought that came to my mind was, “Did I finish the race?” The sweet nurse caring for me gave me a look of pity and said, “I am sorry to say dear, you did not.” My heart sank. Though my lips were blue and I was dangerously dehydrated, somehow it was the finishing of the race that mattered to me most. So I jumped out of the van and made my way (ever so slowly) across the finish line. It was what made all of it… worth it.
I think this is a question that we may ask [or think to ourselves] from time to time when the going gets tough in our faith: Is this worth it?
Maybe we’ve given up a certain lifestyle or friendship to honor Christ, and in those times of feeling alone or criticized for our choices, we wonder to ourselves: Is this really worth it? Or maybe we’ve walked away from a certain career path or income bracket to serve Christ in some way, and when we’re feeling pinched in our finances, we wonder: Is this really worth it? Or maybe we’ve done everything we could to live a faithful life in Christ and then an unexpected disappointment or challenge comes our way and we wonder: Is this really worth it?
This question of the worth of following Christ is not a new one. The Apostle Paul addresses it head on with the earliest Christians at Philippi (see Philippians 3) during a time when the Church was heading into an intense period of persecution. Not to mention Paul had his own personal hardships and struggles to deal with, but he gives a wholehearted ‘Yes!’ to that question. Life in Christ may not always be easy, but he preached with conviction that it is absolutely worth it.
Why?
Continue reading chapter 3 of his letter to the Philippians and we see he was gripped with his goal of finishing his race, not for his own personal gain or glory, but so that he could obtain the ultimate prize—Jesus. His conviction of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ gave him the fuel and steely determination he needed to keep “straining” (v 13) and “pressing on” (vv. 12, 14) until he got there.
I don’t know where you are in your race of faith today. Perhaps you share Paul’s enthusiasm and determination to win the “prize” of knowing Christ. Or perhaps, like me during my marathon, you’ve hit a point of feeling a little weak and wobbly, drained and dehydrated wondering how you’ll ever finish your race–or if you even want to.
Life in Christ never promises to be easy. It will require some straining and striving along the way. But we can know that when we do cross that finish line, and we look back at all the blood, sweat and tears it took to get there, we will be able to confidently say while sitting in the presence of our Lord, “Yes, it was all worth it!”
Whenever you hit a point of struggle and you are tempted to give up, pray these words of the Psalmist, “Teach me Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end” (Psalm 119:33).