[eeyore]

i feel bad about always asking questions, but i find you guys to be able exegetes. please only answer if you find the topic interesting.

the bible sometimes uses the analogy of a race to symbolize the christian life. i was wondering what are some of the different aspects of this analogy? commitment? perseverance? training?

[HolyRockJfreak]

I'll take a wack at it....personally I'm a runner and this is what it means to me.

First I'll just start with life is like running miles. When you're running somedays you'll get cramps, somedays you'll be feeling great, somedays it'll rain and you'll rain anyway, somedays it'll be hot and others will come with a freezing wind. But when you see those runners in the winter they have dedication. Somedays in life you'll be on top, others you'll feel terrible, but that's life, it's what you make out of it. Like a race, it's not necessarily how you do, it's what you make out of it.

Like a marathon.....everyone is running the marathon of life....we can't push ourselves to hard other wise we'll burn out. It's not a sprint it's a long race, we have to prepare and set ourselves goals for how we want to run it.

Everyone is running....when we run and we run with someone else it encourages us to do better and to push through the pain and keep on holding on. Life is like that, we do much better with friends and people that can push us on.

Life, like running, can take commitment and does if we want to be the best we can be. To run a marathon it takes lots of training, and life takes lots of training, whether learning from experience or school or whatever it takes commitment. And to become the best people we can be, it takes commitment to see our flaws, and to listen and learn from others and to learn about God. But like training it pays off to make us better people (like physical training will do for the body).

Life also takes perseverence, when we will be to tired to go on, but we keep on knowing that the sun shine on the other side of this mountain. And to fight through our cramps (or problems) that slow us down.

Here's some of what I thought on it. My life has been like a marathon and I've gone through alot, but I held onto God and he pulled me through.

[OneHope]

Also, in a race it slows you down if you look to the side or get distracted by something happening not on the race track. When we run to God we are supposed to not look at anything but Him in a figurative sense.

[eeyore]

cool. thanks for the ideas. i think they are good one.