We have a generation of weak runners, tripping and falling and denying that either is a problem. But we are called to more, Reader; we are called to run like athletes, to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14, ESV). No successful athlete runs with extra weight hanging about her ankles or proper attire for her body. So, too, we cannot run the race of faith while clinging to the ideologies of the world and neglecting to fortify ourselves in the truth. And that truth is, most simply, this: We were dead in our sins and have been made alive in Christ Jesus that we may trust in his words, grow in his goodness, and live in expectation of his coming glory.
