Have the cares of this life worn away at your resolve to serve God? It's been more than 20 years since I was baptized and committed my life to God, and I often find myself struggling against the pull to let down and take it easy. The race has been long and, at times, very painful. And there is no end in sight. The finish line seems to be so very far off!

I know I'm not alone in feeling this way. I've seen many Christians fall by the wayside, victims of a subtle but destructive message: there is no race, God expects nothing from us and so it's OK to put down the armor of God and take a vacation from serving God. For the weary Christian, this message can be irresistibly attractive—and spiritually fatal. The broad and easy road leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13 Matthew 7:13Enter you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
American King James Version×).

We are warned not to take the gift of God for granted. "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12 1 Corinthians 10:12Why let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
American King James Version×). "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation...?" (Hebrews 2:3 Hebrews 2:3How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by them that heard him;
American King James Version×).

A marathon runner keeps putting one foot in front of the other, sometimes slower, sometimes faster—knowing that the point of running the race is to get to the finish line. We must not drop out of the race, however tired we get. We have sources of nourishment along the way—prayer, Bible study and Christian fellowship. Don't neglect any of these resources.

We need to draw on God for the strength to go on. We need to keep refreshing our memory with God's Word, and we need the mutual encouragement of fellowship (Hebrews 10:24-25 Hebrews 10:24-25 [24] And let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works: [25] Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.
American King James Version×). It is interesting that the surrounding verses, Hebrews 10:23 Hebrews 10:23Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
American King James Version×and verses 26-30, show that mutual encouragement is tied directly to our spiritual survival: Christians who isolate themselves can wither and die.

We need to be prodded forward by each other and we need to be lifted up by friendly hands when we fall. Your fellow servants need your words of encouragement and your helping hand to keep on running the race! You can study the Bible with a new sense of purpose: to be able to give encouragement to others!

Paul advises us to lay aside every weight, and run the race patiently—to run in a disciplined way—as one who wants to win the prize (Hebrews 12:1 Hebrews 12:1Why seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
American King James Version×; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 [24] Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain. [25] And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. [26] I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air: [27] But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
American King James Version×). We have to get rid of whatever distracts us from serving God or loads us down so that we are hindered from moving forward.

"Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed" (Hebrews 12:12-13 Hebrews 12:12-13 [12] Why lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; [13] And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
American King James Version×).

Paul urges all of us to run the race to win: "Run in such a way that you may obtain" the prize—the crown of life (1 Corinthians 9:24 1 Corinthians 9:24Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.
American King James Version×).