Fuelling Up
The other day I was watching some TV show or other and I heard the most ridiculous thing. The two characters were just finishing up a run. One says to the other, “Now we should go do some carb-loading.” I assure you this wasn’t a comedy; it was said in seriousness. Over the course of this year I’ve taken up long-distance running. I’m not an expert or uber-athlete by any stretch, but I have learned a thing or two. One is that nutrition is essential for any success. Closely related to that is that it really pays to do the carb-loading – BEFORE you run. Carbohydrates are the fuel your muscles need to drive you. After you run, your muscles need protein to recover. It’s basic sports nutrition. So when the show talked about carb-loading after a run, that was just a really silly blunder from whoever wrote the script.
On the positive side, it did get me thinking during a recent big run. My thoughts turned to Hebrews 12:1-2. This passage speaks of the Christian life as a long-distance run: “…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” There is a race that God has set before every Christian. It requires endurance. It has challenges – there is “sin which clings so closely” and “every weight” which must be cast aside. As we run this race, we’re encouraged by the “great cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us, but even more so as we look to Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith.” Because he endured the cross, as we trust in him, we can endure the race.
In the days of the New Testament, I doubt there was much of an understanding about sports nutrition. Certainly no one knew the biochemistry behind things like carbohydrates and protein. I imagine there was only a basic understanding that eating something before running would help you run well. It does seem rather obvious that our bodies need some kind of fuel for the heavy exertion involved with running long distances.
Now it’s not mentioned in Hebrews 12:1-2, but certainly the Christian needs fuel for the “race that is set before us.” What could provide us with the fuel we need? The Bible is compared to food elsewhere in the Bible and food is fuel. To run the race, we need strength from the Word of God. The Word of God gives us that strength as it points us to Christ, who describes himself as the carb-loaded “bread of life” (John 6:35).
We need that strength also while we’re running the race. If I run more than 90 minutes, I take some special carbohydrate fuel along with me mixed with some water. If I don’t, I’m going to hit a wall and won’t finish the run. A long-distance runner has to keep fuelling up. It’s the same with us as Christians. We can’t just fuel up at the beginning of our Christian life – get all our Bible reading for a lifetime done in the early years. We also need to be constantly refuelling as we run. Otherwise, it becomes more likely we’ll get tired and start to think about quitting.
Dear readers, we need the Word of God to fuel our race. When we take that fuel on board, it doesn’t mean the race is suddenly going to become easy. It still must be run “with endurance,” which is to say, with effort. But it is going to be easier than trying to do it without the fuel. So like a runner might turn to carbs for fuel, turn to the Word for the fuel you need for the race God has given you.
