Michael Kelley, Guest Contributor

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” Acts 20:24

Imagine a race about to begin. The runners prepare themselves and brace against the starting blocks in order to push off into the race. It’s vitally important for them to brace themselves securely because often the rate at which they get out of the blocks determines the finishing order. The pistol fires, and the runners push off, leaving the starting blocks behind as they get down to the business of running.

Paul tells us that life is like a race. We aren’t meant to casually meander through our time on earth; instead, like a runner, we are meant to push forward—to strain ahead for the prize.

Here’s where it gets interesting, though. We tend to think of the gospel—that Jesus lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death, and rose victoriously from the grave—as the blocks against which we place our feet. We are secure in that information, and because we are, it enables us to push off in order to run the race of the Christian life.

True enough, the gospel is our starting blocks. But in a race, the runner leaves the starting blocks behind. The Christian, however, never abandons the gospel.

That means the gospel isn’t only the starting blocks; it’s the whole track.

We aren’t meant to push off on the gospel and then move into the real business of living, but to continually find our feet falling on that truth. We don’t get over the gospel; we continually dwell and live in the gospel so that it permeates everything we do:

“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7).

As Christians, then, our lives today are centered on the gospel. But what does that look like? I’d suggest these three practical ways any Christian can live in light of the gospel right now:

1. Be calm. Christians do not need to live with a sense of panic. We believe in a sovereign God who is working for our good. One of the most practical ways we display the work of the gospel in our lives is our refusal to panic.
2. Be aware. “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk… making the most of the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16). We walk with anticipation, believing every interaction is significant.
3. Be faithful. Faithful to our marriages, churches, families, and responsibilities. We finish what we start because God is faithful: “He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6).

DIG DEEPER:
Read “What Does It Mean to ‘Run the Race Set Before Us’?” at GotQuestions.org