Historical Relay

2 Timothy 2:² “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (NKJV, emphasis added).

From our focus scripture for the past few days, Hebrews 11:35– Hebrews 12:4, the first thing that stands out is Faith Does Not Spare Us From All Pain! The second thing is Some Of God’s Promises Will Be Fulfilled In Eternity! And the third thing is, We Are Runners In A Historical Relay Race! Hebrews 11:⁴⁰ “Because God had us in mind and had something better and greater in view for us, so that they [these heroes and heroines of faith] should not come to perfection apart from us [before we could join them].” (AMPC). What the Bible is saying in other words is, they cannot receive the prize at the end of the race until we finish the race.

Let’s bring this home; imagine a four-by-four hundred relay race, you ran the first leg, and you were the first to hand over the baton to your teammate. Even though the other teams have not received batons from their first-leg runners, your own teammate has taken off running the second leg. However, you do not begin to celebrate and demand for a gold medal. Instead, you should actually be praying that your teammate will hand over to the next person in the first position. And that next teammate will hand over to the fourth leg runner in the first position as well. And the last person will breast the tape and finish in the first position.

If you have done any form of track, you know that even though you handed the baton to your teammate in the first place, first place is not guaranteed. Your team can actually get bronze or may not get any medal if the other people you handed over to mess up. Similarly, the people Hebrews 11 talks about are done. They have finished their own race and have now handed over the baton to us. It is our turn to run and hand it to our children, who will hand it over to the next generation.

If we fail, God forbid, there is a problem. If your children (both physical and spiritual) do not know what has made you the man or the woman you are. If your children are not stronger and better than you. If your children are flaky and shaky, then we immediately have a problem with this relay race. Like Paul says, if we look out for and ensure that from us, four generations down the line are okay, then we can join the cloud of witnesses and begin to watch also.

Prayer: Father, I ask for the grace not just to do my part in this historical relay but to look out for and ensure four generations from me are running also, in Jesus Name. Amen!