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Running hard is not just for the gifted or the strong. It is for all of us, and we are running a race where every one of us can win. The great enemy of running hard is not failure but apathy, that slow drift where we stop caring, stop feeding on what is good, and eventually become content with going through the motions. What we feed on today becomes our hunger tomorrow. If we fill our eyes and ears with the noise of the world, our hearts will follow. But if we feed on God’s word and dwell on what is true and good and lovely, a passion for the things of God will grow in us naturally, the way a seed becomes something far greater than itself.
Running hard also means staying alert to the danger of lukewarmness, that comfortable middle place where we are not fully cold but not truly burning either. We are to be moved by compassion, grateful for what God has done, and intentional in how we train. The choices we make now are not small. They shape the runners we will become. Like the path that seemed easy at first but leads somewhere unexpected, half-heartedness creeps in quietly. So we fix our diet, guard our hearts, rejoice in the Lord, and press on. There are no civilians in this race.