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Seconds

May 26, 2020

In the same way let your light shine before men so that they will see every good work and glorify our Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

Last week, I watched the documentary Breaking2 , which chronicled the lives of three elite marathon runners. The project was an experiment created by Nike to see if one of the runners could break the two-hour marathon barrier. In November 2016, the runners began six months of a scientifically advanced, rigorous training plan. Then, on May 6, 2017, the privately held race took place at Italy’s Formula One Autodromo Nazionale Monza race track where Eliud Kipchoge’s first place finish was clocked at 2 hours and 25 seconds– just one second behind for each mile had cost him the record!

As I watched the post race interviews, it was interesting to observe the lives of these three runners, and hear what motivated each to want to break the record. One wanted to be the greatest. The next had great pride for his countryman and wanted to do it for his country.  But, Eliud Kipchoge described running as his life’s calling, and explained that he was running for a greater purpose. What separated him from the other runners was that he was confident he was going to accomplish his goal eventually, because he knew God had called him to be a runner.  

Two years later, on October 13, 2019, Kipchoge ran a marathon in less than two hours. His time, 1:59:40, is the fastest any runner has ever covered 26.2 miles.  He had finally achieved his goal. He had learned the value of seconds and had committed every second of his life to his life’s calling: to glorify God.  

Kipchoge provides an example to us as Christians to ask ourselves: am I committing the seconds of my day to Him?  Are my actions reflecting Christ’s light in such a way that people see my every good work and are able to look through me to see God?  Maybe there is something I need to add or reduce to my “training” to ensure I am able to glorify God in every way of my life.  

As we live with the hope of eternity to come and our desire to see more people come to know and grow in Jesus, it will be the sum of all the “seconds” we accumulate over our lifetime that will make the biggest difference in the end.  Each day is a gift and an opportunity to do something, as small as it may seem, to help advance the kingdom one step at a time.

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