You line up at the starting line, the gun fires, and off you go. You feel the rollercoaster of emotions while trying to keep a steady pace mile after mile. Things feel good, but around mile 17, a little bit of doubt creeps in, along with some soreness in the calves. All of a sudden, you are given an “out”: You can leave the race at mile eighteen and still receive the medal. What do you do?
Wild enough, this is what took place on March 7 during the Los Angeles Marathon. Due to “extreme heat,” the race organizers created an exit ramp at mile 18 for anyone feeling especially challenged by the unexpected weather. Same medal, same celebration, but a much different experience.
In terms of analogies, this could not be presented more clearly for us. When I first heard this story, I immediately recalled Paul’s warning to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 9, where he writes:
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…So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified (1 Cor 9:24–27)
Paul commends us to strive in all aspects of life to finish the race to the best of our abilities, despite any unexpected challenges that may come our way. As we know, the unpredictability of life is what truly tests our will—family members unexpectedly pass, jobs are lost, marriages are in crisis, these things press against our faith in our God that ordered all of creation. And yet, Paul does not say “Run as you may obtain it, but you can take a break if things get hard.” He doubles-down and admonishes the believer to persist for the ultimate prize that is life eternal with our Savior.
Exit ramps appear in life daily —think about the serpent to Eve in the creation account; this is how the enemy deters us most successfully (Gen 3). When circumstances in life feel inescapable, old vices that we thought were dead begin to rise back up. The things we could push away in our strength seem a little harder to ignore. We look at how far we’ve come and how well we’ve done and think that this exit ramp is “just a detour” or “basically the same as finishing the race.” And on the surface, this is a believable reality. However, there is a notable difference in character between those who endured to the end and those who took the exit ramp when challenges weighed on them.
In the book of Revelation, we see Jesus speaking to the church in Ephesus, calling them out and reminding them of their first love (Rev 2:3–4). As believers, we are all running this race together, and we must remind one another of our first love when the exit ramp seems all too enticing. When our willpower falters and we are faced with the “easy way out,” we must fix our eyes on the goal set before us and remind one another the purpose of our training: the ultimate goal found in Jesus Christ (1 Tim 4:7–10). In this manner, we may carry on through the hardest seasons of life while knowing that we will “eat of the tree of life” in the presence of our Savior.
If you find yourself in a season where the exit ramp is staring you down, be encouraged that you are running alongside brothers and sisters that want to spurn you on toward that which you were made for in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:10). In the LA Marathon, everyone received the same medal no matter if you quit early, but those that finished the race have a personal satisfaction knowing that they truly fulfilled the goal which they set out to accomplish—let us be like them when our Savior calls us home.
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