"Trust the Training!"

“Trust the training” were the words a person wrote on my Facebook post in which I highlighted one of my final training runs for my first half marathon, which will take place tomorrow morning. Those words have stuck in my head since. Each time I begin to wonder whether or not I will be able to actually run the 13.1 miles required and/or run the kind of time I’ve been striving for, I repeat to myself those words, “trust the training.” 

For 12 weeks now I’ve been running three times per week various types of runs and slowly increasing the distance. The longest I’ve run thus far is 12 miles, so I will have to add just one more mile to complete the race. It’s been quite a journey, but as of yesterday my training is done. And now with the training completed, all I can do is “trust the training” and get out there and run. 

For sure, that phrase can apply to a lot of areas of life. Whether it is the training for a different sport, studies for the medical profession, the learning required to become a teacher, or the practice put in to become an accomplished musician (and the list can go on), to become proficient at anything one needs to invest the time and discipline required; they need to train. Then, when the day comes that they step onto the field, into the operating room, before the classroom, or onto the stage they can do so with the confidence that they have done their part to gain the skills and abilities needed to do well. They just have to “trust the training.” 

And the same is true with our personal, and we might say, spiritual lives. After all, every day we are faced with all kinds of situations and circumstances that test us. We are constantly given the option to do right or wrong, to speak words that build up or words that tear down, to show kindness and love or live by selfishness and greed.  And, none of it comes easy to us. Thus, we need the consistency and discipline of training in order to learn how to make the right choices, to live the way we know God has called us to live, to do the things we ought to be doing. It all takes training. 

The Bible speaks of those “…who have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”  (Hebrews 5:14 – NIV) The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “…train yourself to be godly.”—i.e., live God’s way (1Timothy 4:7-8) We read of how the Bible itself is “useful for…training in righteousness”—i.e, right living (1 Timothy 3:16) 

In other words, it takes time and discipline for to begin to live the way we ought to live.  It takes training—through prayer, studying the scriptures, getting help from the people around us, and making the right choices in the small things of life—in order for us to develop the ability we need to be the kind of people we know we ought to be. But as we do, as we go through the training, we will gain the confidence that we will be able to run this race of faith all the way to the end. 

So, let's train hard and then “trust the training.” 

Have a great day!

- Pastor Tim Harris