Wednesday: A Little Further

Matthew 5:41, “And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”

Last year, two of my close friends made a New Year’s Resolution. They decided that they wanted to run a 5K. In a moment of overly positive thinking, I decided I wanted to run a 5K with them and invited myself to tag along! None of us really knew what we were doing, but we figured it couldn’t be all that hard, after all, running really only requires torturing yourself for the duration of the run. My friend’s dad runs a marathon every weekend, and that’s light work. He also does triathlons and those 100-mile races and makes those look easy and always says the hardest part is “in your head.” I’ll never forget showing up for our first run together. All 3 of us were bright-eyed and full of confidence that running a 5K would be a piece of cake. Our ponytails were perky, our outfits were cute, and our running shoes were shiny. We began our run. I am proud to say we made it a half mile before we gassed out. We looked at each other and came to the conclusion that this might be a little harder than we originally planned, but still doable. We showed up twice a week to run together for an entire spring and summer. We gradually began to be able to run miles. It wasn’t pretty, but we were getting it done. We talked about the race we were going to run, and we decided that it would be best to train running a little further than the 3.1 miles, so we ran 3.5. Some days we made great timing, other days, we were just glad to get it done, and finishing was the highlight. Race day approached, and we ran our first 5K with our church family at Hill Crest’s first Thanksgiving Day family turkey trot! We had a ton of fun, and while our finish time wasn’t ideal, we accomplished our goal. We still run together over a year later. 

After running the 5K, I ran a 10K. Now I am working on running a half-marathon. Each running day, I have a certain number of miles I need to get in. When I hit those miles, I make myself go just a little further. Sometimes that’s 20 steps, sometimes its 200. The first time I ran 10 miles, I thought there was no way I was going to be able to do 3.1 more. Now, 10 miles is still hard (and I’m still slow), but it isn’t an overwhelming number to run. Throughout this training, I’ve learned some things: I have no desire to run a marathon and also, I don’t think I’m a runner. Something else I’ve learned is that when you put minimum effort in, you get minimum effort results. When you put maximum effort in, you begin to see marked improvement. Another thing I learned? Just how important rest and recovery are. 

Throughout the Bible we see parallels to running in a race with our faith-walk, -er should I say faith-run? Hebrews 12:1-2 states, “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.” We are told to wait on the Lord, how He renews our strength so that we can run and not be weary! We press towards the finish line, running the race that is set before us. 

What do we do when we are signed up for a race that we don’t want to run? If God has placed us in that race, we run it anyway. Here’s the thing: throughout your whole life, you are going to have to do things you don’t want to do. The attitude we use when we approach those tasks will greatly impact our sense of purpose, enjoyment, and well-being when doing those tasks. In Matthew 5:41, we see that if someone compels us to go a mile, we should go two. Roman soldiers had the power to compel regular citizens to carry their stuff for them for one mile. These soldiers weren’t particularly nice, friendly dudes. I’m sure plenty of them had an attitude and loved having a power advantage over people. What happens when you don’t view their compulsion as a power move but rather as an opportunity to serve as the hands and feet of Christ? They are no longer the ones with the power. You are. People will take advantage of you; people will think that they have gotten away with it, too, when you choose to hold your peace instead of calling them out over it. Why hold your peace? Because it’s not really about you. That’s right, in a world where we are told to put ourselves first, to seek our own comforts, what if we instead focused on making a positive impact for the Kingdom of God through service in going the extra mile? 

I once heard someone say that while we were busy climbing the ladder of success, Jesus was still at the bottom of the ladder helping people climb up. Can you believe that? Jesus, the Son of God, the Holy of Holies, chooses to serve. What makes you think you are too good to serve? And before you go “well that’s because Jesus is God,” which is true, remember also that He was fully man. I think we can get a good glimpse of His deity and humanity just a few chapters over from Matthew 5 in Matthew 26 when Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane. Verse 39 says, “And going a little farther He fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as you will.’” When I read this verse, I can’t help but tear up, because there have been so many times in my life where I have refused to surrender my will to my Father’s will, and how many people have suffered the consequences for my actions? There’ve been so many times where I’ve begrudgingly given the minimum. So many times when it really wouldn’t have cost me much to go the extra mile, but for whatever reason, I chose self over service. Christian, you have this one life to make a difference. You have this one life to choose to be broken, spilled out, and used up in service to the One Who was broken, spilled out, and used up for you. The One Who doesn’t leave you behind, the One Whose life is a living example of going the extra mile. 

Read: Matthew 26:36-46

Do: Look up different verses in the Bible about running your race and memorize one. Meditate on this verse when life’s race compels you to go further, take an alternate route, or jump over hurdles and trust that God will give you the strength to finish your race. 

Pray: Write out a prayer asking our Heavenly Father to give you the strength and grace to go the extra mile. Ask Him to give you opportunities to go the extra mile.