The link between 'right living' and joy in the Spirit

It’s marathon season. Could long-distance running get your life back on track with God? The Apostle Paul writes, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4v7).

Let’s start by exploring a link between method acting and Christians who run.

'Method acting'

Method acting (pioneered through the Stanislavski System) emphasises "living the role before enacting the part." It transformed the careers of Hollywood luminaries like Dustin Hoffman, Daniel Day-Lewis and Marlon Brando.

For example, would Brando have pitched his epic line, “I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody,” in On the Waterfront, with such brooding failure without the Stanislavski method and living for weeks on end before filming among the dock workers of Hoboken, New Jersey?

Should Christians become "Stanislavski runners" – method runners who unpack Paul’s mind about spiritual training through immersive experiences of physical training, rather than assuming a static actor’s posture (hypocrites in Greek), memorising scripts and hamming up roles for specific scenes?

Mixed metaphors

While some metaphors reside permanently within the realm of imagery (please do not twist a thorn into your side), other motifs are amenable to apprenticeship. Paul draws a spiritual suspension bridge between what he has seen and tasted in athletics and the stringent training he knows is required of all Christians – "a training in righteousness" (2 Tim 3v16).

How many Christians think like this: "If I’m going to live for God, I’m going to have to train"?!

Does Paul’s running metaphor need to try on your pair of Nike’s to reveal its deeper meaning (assuming you are fit and well)?

One runner’s story

Here is a friend’s story:

“I had always hated running. But following an all-inclusive holiday where too much was eaten, and a realisation that I was fast approaching 50, I decided something needed to be done and I started running. My greatest encourager was my youngest daughter who kept saying, ‘Do 1 more kilometre just for me mum,’ which always kept me going. I slowly built it up to 10km over a few months. Now, one year later, I enjoy running! Spiritually, I value the peace of running and use the time to pray, count my blessings and appreciate creation, while there is no-one talking or asking me to do something.”

Running as a spiritual teacher

Training works

Long-distance running’s first big surprise is – training works! If I do what the coach tells me, my body will adapt to running three, five, ten miles! A new optimism springs up in the stale ordinariness of life – if I were to follow other training programmes, what else might I achieve?

Targetless Christianity doesn’t work

According to Paul, there are two very different approaches to spirituality: “Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly" (1 Cor 9v24b-26a).

Like someone entering a marathon race with zilch training, aimless (or targetless) runners never finish their true calling races.

Joy and freedom

Running releases scores of endorphins and burns up greedy carbs. Running frees the human spirit from alienation wrought by industrialisation and narcissistic screens. Running restores a sense of belonging within creation; runners find a home in the great outdoors!

Spiritual training also overcomes alienating influences and discards bad diets where Christians seek life in the wrong places, in the wrong things and from the wrong menus. Through spiritual training, Christians learn to exercise daily and eat properly. This matters because right living (orthopraxis) leads to freedom and joy in the Spirit.

Life rhythms

Paula Radcliffe, How to Run (2011), talks about how she manages her running life:

1. Set your ultimate goals
2. Visualise your goals
3. Set yourself a few smaller, more easily achieved goals
4. Plan how you’re going to fit training into your daily life
5. Re-evaluate and reassess your goals.

As Christians, are we as intentional as Radcliffe when it comes to managing our life with God?

Running like Jesus

Perhaps nothing I’ve said has convinced you of becoming a Stanislavski-type Christian runner. Well, what about the Bible’s description of Jesus as the ultimate runner in history?

In Hebrews, Jesus is personified as the cosmic forerunner, the pace-setting runner who navigates every inch of the spiritual landscape for his followers. Followers of Jesus are simply to fix their eyes on Him and fall in behind their forerunner!

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and forerunner of our faith" (Hebrews 12v1-2).

As a marathon runner and triathlete, I can testify to running’s manifold spiritual blessings, including natural, conversational evangelism.

If you know, you know.