A Christian’s life can be compared to running a race. Some Christians do not have a long race to run. This was the case for one of the two malefactors who was crucified next to Jesus (Luke 23:39-43). And there were Christians who accepted Christ when they were on their death beds, and did not have the opportunity to run the race. But for most of us, we have many years to run this race.

In Galatians 5:7, the word “hinder” means to cut into a lane. Paul was asking the Galatian Christians why they allow people to “hinder” them from obeying God’s truth as they ran the race.

There are many aspects to a race:

(1) In the worship race, do we desire to worship God? If we do not, we must check our salvation. We must not continue to harden our own heart against God. 

(2) In the prayer race, do we find praying distasteful? Or do we love to pray?

(3) In the relationship race, we must not let anything hinder our relationships with our fellow brethren. God deals with our church as a whole. We must not let hurt, pride, jealousy, etc ruin our relationships. We must learn to forgive and forget so that our relationships can be restored, and our church be right with God.

(4) In the race of morality and ethics, we must be people of our words. May our yea be yea, and nay be nay.

(5) In the race of holiness, we must know the sins in our lives, and quickly confess and repent.

(6) In the race of doctrines, we must not let false or wrong doctrines cut into our path and hinder us from running our race.

When the devil is successful in any one of the above aspects, our whole testimony for Christ will collapse.

We must run well to the end, not allowing any obstacles to cut into our path. It is important that we be discerning when we run the race. The devil’s most powerful weapon is to take God’s Word, give it a little twist, and then persuade us to accept his false teachings (Gal 5:8). Knowing God’s Word well will help us to be discerning. We can then identify the false doctrines. We must be aware of the subtlety of the obstacles in our race. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Gal 5:9). One false doctrine can jeopardise the whole Bible.

Will we finish our race in victory in the Lord?