Serious marathon runners know that they need a personal trainer to compete at the highest level. Trainer’s have knowledge that is critical to a marathoner's success. They know what physical strength is needed, they know the runner’s body, running form, limitations, and they know how to devise a training plan to strengthen the runner for the grueling race.
The training regimen is usually painful, and it often seems unconnected to running the race. For example, you might not fully appreciate why you need to be in a weight lifting program for building upper body strength. Why on earth am I running wind-sprints, when I am in training to run a marathon? Sometimes it feels like the trainer is just hammering you because he can, and really doesn’t care about the stress and strain he’s putting you through. But you have to cooperate with the trainer if you want to endure the race and finish well.
God is our Trainer. He is committed to training us, getting us in optimal physical condition to run our race. To that end, He has a personalized training program designed for each one of us. He knows exactly what kind of race we’ll experience and how long our race will be. He knows exactly what qualities are lacking in our lives which we will need in order to finish the race well. He knows exactly the right amount of stress and strain to put on us to develop and hone those qualities. He calls this training program “discipline” (the Greek word for discipline, paideuo, is used 9 times in Hebrews 12:5-11). God is constantly disciplining all of us through all sorts of suffering which He sovereignly allows us to experience for the purpose of building us up for enduring the hardest parts in the race of our lives.
If you want to run this race with endurance, you have to cooperate with the Trainer. You can’t stop God from training you, but you can prevent yourself from reaping the benefit of His training by not cooperating. What does it look like to cooperate with the Trainer? It involves trusting Him in two counter-intuitive ways as described in Hebrews 12:5-10...
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
The writer of Hebrews switches temporarily to the parenting metaphor probably because of the Proverb quoted. The first thing to trust about the Trainer is that His training is motivated by His love, not by His anger or neglect. Contrary to our humanistic, therapeutic culture, which has virtually no category for constructive-positive suffering ,God says we have a lot of pride and foolishness bound up in our hearts. And only sharp, sometimes painful discipline will teach us humility and wisdom. Although this discipline often seems counter-intuitive, especially when the training is severe, we usually don’t see a clear connection to how it can possibly help us in our race.
Most of us have a framework for trusting that God’s discipline is motivated by His love for us. As children growing up, we’ve experienced an imperfect but helpful example of this through human trainers, our parents. Parents are certainly not perfect in raising their children and make a lot of mistakes in the way they discipline. But, for the most part when you become an adult looking back, you appreciate what they did in disciplining you and you know it was all out of their love for you. The parent-child-teen relationship is much the same with us and God. Although there is one big difference... God is perfect in His discipline.
Even knowing that on a conscious level, doesn’t make it any easier to accept when God is training and disciplining us. We tend to focus only on the circumstantial or human source of our adversity, instead of remembering that God has allowed whatever it is causing us pain and suffering to happen for our spiritual growth. We tend to immediately complain that “the thing” is hindering our freedom, instead of remembering that it is advancing our spiritual growth and maturity. We almost never spend time in prayer thanking him for the adversities that impact our lives. We tend to ask only, “Why did this happen to me?” or “How can I get out of this situation?” instead of “What are you (God) trying to teach me through this?” We tend to forget that those whom God loves, He disciplines... No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11.
The second thing to trust about the Trainer is that the benefit comes later, not now. Contrary to our culture, which places a premium on instant gratification and places no value on patience or perseverance, God says that the most important thing we can gain is character development. And you have to be willing to wait for these attributes to develop. Rewards will most likely not come until you have crossed the finish in “the race of your life.”
This is the Biblical version of the athletic slogan: “No Pain, No Gain.” The benefit of training and discipline is experienced later, not during the training and running of the race. Those who want to celebrate a Super Bowl victory in February begin their training the previous February, in the weight room, running miles, practicing in the heat of summer, etc. In fact, they usually do this for several seasons before they even get to the Super Bowl.
The same principle holds true with God’s training. If you don’t trust His promise on this today, you won’t get to experience the far superior rewards and benefits later. Why submit to His correction when it hurts your pride, especially when it almost certainly comes at you through imperfect people, wherein you can justify your sins and blame someone else? Why keep sacrificially serving people when by “dropping out of the race” you would have more time to live selfishly? Why put thousands of hours into learning God’s Word and sharing it with others when you can entertain yourself with things that require no real skill or effort? Why endure the pain of disappointment and interrupted plans when you can numb yourself through distractions and immediate pleasures? Why indeed? Because if you patiently submit to God’s training, you will eventually reap “a harvest of righteousness and peace.” But, you’ll have to “wait” until you finish your race for the glory and adulation you desire.
Working with the Trainer, submitting to His program for your development will bring guaranteed results. Submitting to Him, increasingly enables you to manifest His character to those around you. People notice the “race you’re running” and the strength you have to run it. You become increasingly confident that God will take care of you. James calls it “becoming mature and lacking in nothing” in your service to God (James 1:4). Paul calls it “proven character and hope” (Romans 5:5). This is what makes your life stable and satisfying and without regret. This is what attracts others to come to Christ and inspires them to run their race along side you!
ASK yourself... Are you weary and thinking about quitting the race? Don’t... Stay in! Are you thinking about taking a detour? Keep going straight ahead! Have you dropped out of the race? Get back in... it’s not too late! For your own sake, and for the sake of those who will come after you, run the race set before you... focus on Jesus... and finish well!
