The Race Set Before Us

For longer than anyone can remember, the Tarahumara (pronounced Tara-mara) Indians in northwestern Mexico have been running. Not just any running, either — 200- and 300-mile foot races without stopping, taking 40, 50, or more hours to finish! They run in sandals or bare feet, taking with them only a small bag of beans or corn for food.

The longest recorded run by a Tarahumara was 435 miles in just over 48 hours! That’s more than 16.5 marathons in two days.

Running is life for the Tarahumara. They start running almost from the time they can walk, and don’t stop even in old age. Men and women in their 70s and 80s run, too. Even their method of hunting revolves around running: they hunt deer and turkeys simply by chasing them to exhaustion, and even capture wild horses the same way.

There are several lessons we can learn from the Tarahumara. For those called by God, the race that we run is long — an entire lifetime! The Apostle Paul wrote,

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:24-27).

Since the race we run is for the rest of our lives, we don't know when the race will end. Therefore, “let us run with endurance the race is set before us” (Heb. 12:1). For “he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Mat. 24:13). 

James, the brother of Christ, tells us, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (Jam. 1:12).

Jesus emphasized that the race we run is not a sprint, but a lifelong race. We find in Mat. 13:20-23, “But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Therefore, when we commit to God, we must be prepared to endure to the end. We must be prepared to endure any trial and any temptation that arises.

This requires patience and perseverance. The Apostle Paul admonished us to be “patient in tribulation” (Rom. 12:12), and Isa. 40:31 tells us, “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Jam. 5:11 adds, “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord — that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

So if we are patient and endure, God will reward us and help us. But we must not give up before He does so. We are on His timetable; He is not on ours!

In 1993, several Tarahumara traveled to Colorado to run in the 100-mile ultramarathon in Leadville, a grueling race that reaches over 12,000 feet above sea level with torturous climbs. One of their number, 55-year-old Victoriano Churro, won the race with a time of 20:03:33. Two more finished second and fifth. But it wasn’t their victory over the world’s elite runners that shocked onlookers as much as their style of running. While other runners gasped for breath and pushed themselves forward one torturous step at a time, the Tarahumara ran with an easy, graceful stride, never tired, and beamed huge smiles of joy! For the Tarahumara, running is a joy, no matter how long the race.

Like the Tarahumara, we must run our race with joy. Even in the midst of trial and tribulation, we can still have joy. Paul wrote to the Romans, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom. 5:3-4). James added, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (Jam. 1:2-3).

What gives us this joy? The Holy Spirit, for joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). There’s another reason for this joy, too. Let’s continue on and see.

Tarahumara have been known to finish races while hurt, and to run through rain and hail to get to the finish line. Maria Lorena Ramirez, famous for winning ultramarathons in sandals and a skirt, explains that when running, the finish line is the only thing on her mind.

This level of determination and focus is one we need to attain. We must keep our eyes and our minds on the prize, the Kingdom of God, no matter what’s going on around us.

Turning back or giving up, once we have committed ourselves to God, would be disastrous. In Jesus’ own words, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62). In Ezek. 18:24, God tells us, “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.”

Therefore, we do not quit, but continue our race, “holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain” (Phil. 2:16). Nothing can be allowed to distract us from our course. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13).

As Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12-14).

Pressing on toward the Kingdom of God should give us great joy, knowing that with each step, each trial and difficulty, we are getting that much closer.

Finally, let’s turn over to Hebrews chapter 12.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.’

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

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.

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears” (Heb. 12:1-8, 11-17).

This passage perfectly sums up the lessons we can learn from the Tarahumara. Know that the race is long. Run with patience and endurance. Run with joy. Above all, never quit the race, no matter what; keep your mind focused on the prize!