Running

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gen 3:15)

"A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth." (Rev 12:1-2)

"My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you" (Gal 4:19)

Our mother is the Church. We owe her our love and faithfulness. The Church is our pastor, elders, teachers and leaders. The Church is our brothers and sisters, young and old, of old and new. The Church is those who faught the good fight and are now resting in Christ, the great cloud of witnesses cheering us who are still running the race (Heb 12:1). The Church is all the generations of believers who passed on to us the baton of faith through the Holy Spirit and generations to come for whom we are paving the way. The Church is the apostles and the head of the Church: Christ himself, who had to go through tremendous pains on the Cross to give birth to us: The Church.

We are the Church and we need to be faithful to ourselves, to our identity and calling given by God. "We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." (Rom 8:23-25)

We are the hope of this fallen creation, which "waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." (Rom 8:19-22)

Finally, we owe it to the Church to renew our minds according to the love and grace of God, and walk in the true likeness of our Savior, as victorious children of light.

"In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." (Rom 8:37)

As Apostle Paul would say, we are running! focused and determined, armed and equipped with the love of Christ.

"I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." (Phil 3:12)

We're running to reach the lost. We're running for the chosen. We're running for the world. We're running to know Christ. We're running for future generations. We're running for Christ, for the advent of His Kingdom, its expansion and growth. We are the Church. We're a new creation, born of the Spirit and of a unity that's unheard. We would die for Christ. We are devoted and committed. We were fed and nurtured, disciplined and raised. We're ready for His return and patiently we wait.