so run

Is anyone among you suffering?
Is anyone cheerful?
Is anyone among you sick?

James 4

Hey James, how about, Is anyone just plain sick and tired?

Have any of you felt like it doesn’t matter, you don’t matter, nobody cares, so what’s the point? Have you ever thought about walking away because your faith journey is just too hard? Running the race is just too…whatever?

I have a word for you. Literally, a word.

“ἀνάγκη”

Paul uses the word to describe how he could never walk away from the life he’d been called to. To quit was unthinkable. You’ll find this word in the following verse:

For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

1 Corinthians 9:16

“Necessity.” Anágkē means a driving force, an inner compulsion. This word unburdens one of having a choice in the matter. It’s not a thing you volunteer for (“on my own initiative”, v17), but a calling (“sacred trust”, v17). You don’t ‘sign up’ for it.

One fine day, Saul/Paul was horsebacking with warrants in hand to arrest Jesus followers. Next thing he knows, he’s flat on his back, blinded by an explosion of light. Jesus showed up. “You’re not going that way anymore, Saul. I have something else in mind for you.”

You won’t find Jesus asking him if he wants to preach and suffer and die for the cause. It’s a foregone conclusion, “You’re going to do this.”

Paul’s necessity was to preach the good news. He wasn’t called to make tents or build synagogues. He was called to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. And “WOE TO ME if I don’t…”

Paul was so captured with his calling all of his life was measured in terms of the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ defined his joy and shaped his thinking and liberated his soul. He was fueled by it. All his hopes were bound up with the prospect of living out and advancing the gospel.

His ‘necessity’ to carry the gospel forward was a vital organ inside the man; if it ceased, he’d be done for. Others might try to ignore theirs or “flee to Tarshish” but Paul’s compass pointed to Nineveh. To abandon his calling was a woe he didn’t want to imagine!

What’s your “necessity”? What compels you? What burden has Jesus placed on you?

I have a necessity to show people that God can use my disability to share the love and hope of Jesus to others. Yours might be to lead your family with integrity. Your calling might be to teach. I had lunch with a retired brother yesterday who told me he’s motivated to help people who are powerless to help themselves. You might be compelled to write. Or you ‘heart’ the homeless. Maybe you are an entrepreneur or a philanthropist.

You might know what it is but you find yourself in a dry season and are tempted to walk away. Face it, we all get discouraged. We all get weary in well-doing.

With all the compassion and understanding I can muster, please allow me to encourage you not to call it quits. Whatever *it* is in your life, it’s worth it. Trust me, I get it.

I’ve got recent entries in my prayer journal that would curl your toenails. In Job-like manner, I’ve railed at God about my struggles. I’ve pity-partied about how I seem to be the only one getting sanctified (not the good kind!). Why do others seem to thrive but I’m over here getting the thorn? Huh, God?

In spite of it all, God is faithful. If I didn’t have that, I’d just roll over and die. His loyal love (‘hesed’) to me is what gets me up in the morning. On those days I’d rather pull the covers over my head, I’m compelled by a calling I cannot deny. It’s my necessity. People fail me, I fail myself, but God never fails.

So then, where is my reward? It is found in continually depositing the good news into people’s hearts…

1 Corinthians 9:18, Passion Translation

My “reward“ for ministry used to be a regular platform, an enthusiastic congregation, name recognition, and a monthly paycheck. Nowadays, I watch birds. I have a fulfilling quiet time with Jesus. I study and read. Sometimes I write. Most everything I do is hidden.

So what is my reward? It’s not a recognition of my preaching gifts. It’s not people waiting in line to speak to me after a service. And I certainly don’t get paychecks for doing gospel ministry anymore.

Now I do all this because of the gospel, so I may become a partner in its benefits.

1 Corinthians 9:23, CEB

What is my reward, you ask?

Paul would say, your reward is to live and share the gospel and enjoy its blessings. It doesn’t matter to who or how many or whether it’s even seen.

Stay in the race, weary sibling in the faith. Keep running. Let’s finish well.

Don’t you know that all the runners in the stadium run, but only one gets the prize? So run to win.

1 Corinthians 9:24, CEB

I’ve heard this text preached with a variety of applications. Now I read “So run” in light of verses 18 and 23.

Run, beloved. Keep running. Run for the sake of the gospel. Not for pay, not for adulation, not for personal success, but for Jesus. Run so others might share in the blessings of following Jesus.

“So run.” It’s worth it. It’s worth all the bends, twists, detours, and it’s worth it even when everyone else is passing you by. God has made you to run, he’s given you a lane, so run for Jesus’s sake.

When we run with this as our motivation along with the fuel of “necessity,” we win. It doesn’t matter if you get your name put up in lights or your testimony included in the chapter of a book. Jesus sees it. He sees you. He sees you getting back in the race…and running.

So run.