“Are you a fast runner?” my fellow candidate asked. At 68, I was the oldest guy in the group. “Do I look like a fast runner?” I was in the last phase of the required physical fitness test before beginning a training course prior to an assignment at the American embassy in Baghdad. To complicate matters, I had torn the meniscus in my left knee the previous year, and every effort I made to start running had failed. According to the PA in my orthopedic surgeon’s office, on a scale of one to four, my arthritis was a three. My surgeon said I had a “little” bit of arthritis. I’m math challenged, but that didn’t sound like a little to me!

Back to my run. At this point I realized that, if I didn’t step it up, I wasn’t going to finish on time, so I began to pull ahead. I had 10 seconds to spare when I crossed the finish line, but only because one of the candidates (who would become my roommate) came back and ran with me to the finish line. Throughout my years, as a Marine and afterwards, I ran to “win the prize” in the sense that I had to routinely meet physical fitness requirements to remain in the Corps — or, in this case, to qualify for a job. After retiring, it was more to maintain my physical endurance.

As a Christian, however, the racecourse is different. We must first realize that we are in a race. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it” (I Corinthians 9:24, ESV). Paul is telling believers to “run,” which implies a race. But what kind of race? The Greek word for race is stadion, defined by Vine’s Dictionary as “a racecourse. The [stadion] was the length of the Olympic course.”

In another passage, Paul tells us to run to obtain. “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). The prize is “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” The Greek word here is klesis, defined as “that calling, the origin, nature and destiny of which are heavenly” (Vine’s).

As with all illustrations, we need to weave it within the context of all of Scripture. Paul is not calling us to a physical footrace, but rather to a course of life that God uniquely calls each believer to follow. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Paul tells us that, though he has been running, he’s not there yet. He’s pressing on for the prize that’s before him, the same prize that we are encouraged to obtain. What exactly is the prize?

The prize is communing with, and being guided by, King Jesus. The author of Hebrews gives us this picture. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Jesus is “the founder and perfecter of our faith” (“author and finisher,” KJV). He’s the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end! We “look” to Him because He leads us and guides us. We’ve never been this way before, but He charted the path before the foundation of the world. He is the prize! Paul hinted at that in Philippians 3:10 — “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” As we “run,” we lay aside every weight (encumbrance) and sin that hampers our ability to run. Marathon runners don’t wear overcoats and boots to run the race — they shed all extraneous items that would hinder their movement.

King Jesus has put within each of us a measure of faith. The only way to mature that faith is to run with Him, keeping our eyes on Him, as Peter did when he stepped out of the boat. Daily intimate fellowship is the prize. Are you running to obtain? What say ye, Man of Valor?