Marathon

"Make every effort to live in peace with all men

and to be holy;

Without holiness no one will see the Lord."

-Hebrews 12:14

This is such a strong statement. No one will see the Lord without being holy? Well what does it even mean to be holy?

RC Sproul puts it in good terms. He says that the primary meaning of holy means "separate." It is from an ancient word meaning "to cut" or "separate."

With holy in this regard, we can easily say that we are holy because through our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior we are set apart from sinful ways. We have been made dead to sin but alive in Christ (Romans 6:11). But how much of our lives is a testament to the fact that we have been set apart? I mean, is faith alone enough? A lot of us say that since we have confessed belief in Jesus Christ we now have an inheritance in Heaven and this is backed up in scripture in Ephesians 1:11-14. It says that the Holy Spirit we received when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior is our deposit to guarantee us a spot in Heaven. BUT, has anyone stopped to think of a Heaven without seeing our Father? John Piper asks the question, who would be fine with a Heaven without Jesus or God? I mean, look at it this way: Matthew 10:32 says, 'Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in Heaven.' And if Jesus is the Judge in Heaven to if we see the Father (John 5:22), then do we give room for Jesus to say that we haven't acknowledged Him through our actions here on Earth and as a result we will not see the Lord?
James 2:17 says, 'Faith without action is dead.' What does this 'action' mean?

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me,

if only I may finish the race and complete the task

the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying

to the gospel of God's grace.

-Acts 20:24

The task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. What is the gospel of God's grace? Titus 3:4-7 says that we as sinners have been justified by God's grace which is the fact that he sent his Son to die for us. What does it mean to testify to this? It means to live up to our faith in Jesus Christ. It means to back up our belief in him through our actions so that our faith is not dead. It means to truly be holy because we have been set apart by God's grace and it is our task to testify to this through our lives. 

Looking at the task in this light, what does this mean about the race? What is the race in relation to being holy? Because it is our calling and task to be holy (Ephesians 1:4, Romans 8:29, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 1 Peter 1:16, etc. etc.) the race is therefore our SANCTIFICATION. 

This race first starts when we first receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:15) and is completed in Heaven when we receive the goal of our faith (1 Peter 1:9). Therefore, salvation is a process (1 Cor. 1:18, Romans 5:9, 1 Peter 2:2). It saddens me when people fail to see their salvation in this light. There are some people who believe they should do nothing with their salvation that they receive when they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior because in Heaven they will receive their new bodies in which complete and full salvation will be made possible. This is a false-contentment in the complacency of their faith, which is wrong because we were meant to be running! I mean, the race is marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1) because we were called to be holy! And we were called to be holy because in light of the price paid for our redemption it only makes sense (1 Peter 1:18-19)! 

If salvation is a process then shouldn't Heaven only be a continuation for how we chose to live our lives here on earth? Shouldn't we work on sanctifying ourselves because we seek to perfect our salvation? I mean, on earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:10), right?
How do we even go about the race of sanctification though? Thankfully, we don't do it alone. When we professed our faith in Jesus Christ we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). And through the gift of the Holy Spirit and faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ we are already being sanctified (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). But as we discussed before, a faith without action is dead. What does this mean in us already being sanctified by the Holy Spirit? Just as we are called to be holy we are called to self-discipline ourselves to be holy (1 Cor. 9:24-27, 1 Timothy 4:7) which means to make sure we are living our lives in a manner worthy of the gospel (Philippians 1:27). All this to say, we should be running the race. I mean, what athlete stops running in middle of a marathon? For us, stopping in middle of the race is detrimental. Hebrews 6:11-12 says that we need to make our hope for salvation sure by not becoming lazy. When we become lazy during the race we give ourselves the opportunity for Satan (as Graham Cook puts it) to drag us out of our standing and into our state (or to put in simpler terms, how we were before we were saved) (James 1:14). Therefore, let us keep running towards the goal of our faith, the complete salvation of our soul (1 Peter 1:9). 
We should become righteous because we have been declared righteous in our acceptance of our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. Therefore, we all should be unified in the sense that we all should be running the race of sanctification towards our inheritance in Heaven instead of becoming lazy because this is not living a holy life like we are called to live because we have been set apart by the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
Imagine the glory of seeing the Lord in Heaven because we have lived holy lives and saying to him, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). And then we will receive a crown of righteousness that any victor should.  

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared

to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly

passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives

in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious 

appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who

gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and 

to purify for himself a people that are his very own,

eager to do what is good."

-Titus 2:11-14