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In Sunday’s sermon (text, audio), I discussed my love-hate relationship over the years with interval training – running a set distance fast, repeatedly, with a short, timed rest between runs. In my high school and college days, I hated these workouts; I worked hard at them only because I knew they were necessary if I were to improve as a runner. Yet by the time I was 35, I had grown to love interval training. It was still painful – perhaps more so at age 35 than at 20. But I came to love the mental discipline of pushing myself through the pain, of maintaining good form despite tiring legs, of completing a hard workout well.

In our sermon discussion Tuesday morning, Albert brought up a particularly helpful application of this idea in our Christian lives: Many of us know that we should share our faith. We want to be people who witness. And yet we also don’t want to do so. We fear rejection; we think we won’t know what to say, or how to answer questions. So we too end up with a love-hate relationship with witnessing.

My attitude towards interval training changed when I began to see those workouts as a fulfillment of my identity has a runner. A runner is mentally tough. A runner does have control over his weakening legs. A runner will experience pain, but will nevertheless continue and overcome the temptation to quit.

We, too, need to see the sharing of our faith as the fulfillment of who we are as Christians, as those who delight in Jesus above all things. Consider: (more…)