Don’t allow yourself to be distracted

In March 1987, Eamon Coughlan was running in the qualifying heat at the World Indoor Track Championships in Indianapolis. He was the reigning world record holder at 1500 metres and was favoured to win the race. Unfortunately, with two and a half laps left, he tripped and fell hard. But he got up and with great effort managed to catch the race leaders. With twenty yards to go, he was in third place, which would have been good enough to qualify for the final race. Then Coughlan made a fateful mistake – he looked over his shoulder to the inside. Seeing no one there, he relaxed his effort slightly. What he hadn’t noticed was that a runner was charging hard on the outside. This runner passed him just a yard before the finish line, eliminating him from the finals. Coughlan’s great comeback effort ended up being worthless for only one reason: he momentarily took his eyes off the finish line and focused on the would-be competitors behind him. The writer of the book of Hebrews said, “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.” A “weight” refers to things that are legitimate but can slow you down. A “sin” refers to something illegitimate that you know to be wrong and can cost you the race. So lay them both aside and “run with endurance the race that is set before [you], looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (vv. 1-2 NKJV).