Track athletes are trained to “run through the tape.” Meaning, you don’t just run up to the finish line, you run past the finish line. Some runners have thought that they just needed to make it to the tape, and so they started to let up right at the end, because, in their minds, they were done. As a consequence, they lost the race because they did not finish strong and run through the tape. Some marathon runners “just want to finish.” They don’t care how, even if they have to fall over the finish line; they just want to say they did it.
In Paul’s writings, he frequently compared the Christian life to a race (not a sprint, but more like a marathon). Think about these words from Philippians 3, in light of the different kinds of runners discussed above – “…reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize…” (3:13-14). Paul was learning forward, as a runner leans across the line.
How will you finish your race? Letting up at the end? Or running through the tape?