I’m not a runner. In fact, I hate running. Hate is a strong word,  but it’s the appropriate word to use when discussing my relationship with running. Running a mile and a half in 12 minutes and 25 seconds was what I had to do to pass the state police test. I did it, but it was one of the most physically difficult things I’ve ever done. For a runner–including those that run “just for fun”–that may seem dramatic. But, for someone like me, who’s never been terribly athletic, running is hard work. When I started, I could only run a half mile without literally collapsing on the track. I had to condition myself over a period of about six months before I was able to meet my time. When the test was over, I didn’t hate running any less than when I started. If you happen to see me running today, you better find out what’s chasing me! Afterall, Proverbs 28:1 says, “The sinful run away when no one is trying to catch them.”

Despite being the least athletic person you’ve ever met, I don’t mind weight training or playing volleyball or racquetball, but please don’t make me run. I get really bad shin splints! Because of my contemptuous relationship with running, I cannot wrap my head around why anyone would run a marathon, much less pay money to do so! I wouldn’t do it if you were paying me. Yes, I realize they are fund raising tools for good causes, but I’d rather just write a check and watch from my lawn chair. These folks that pay registration fees to run 13.1 or 26.2 miles–aside from being gluttons for punishment–are usually very gung-ho about it. The go to specialty running shops and sporting goods stores to purchase special shoes, special clothing, GPS tags to tie on their shoelaces (so people can track their progress), etc. They stretch, they train and, on the day of the race they arrive to claim their “bib.” That’s what they call the numbered sheet of paper they pin to their shirt. The bib is what identifies them and proves they have paid the fee to run the marathon, and they are entitled to the benefits offered to the runners (like medical care, fuel and hydration stations, restrooms, etc).

I learned there are actually people who do not register, they don’t pay the registration fee, they don’t get a bib, they just show up and jump in the race. Paying runners have a term for these folks. They call them bandits. They are not official participants and have not paid their dues. They just show up and run. The problem with bandits is, they weren’t planned for, they take up room, use up fuel and hydration supplies, restrooms, medical attention, etc. that are intended for paying participants. I suppose that’s why they call them bandits.

There are always people who believe the rules don’t apply to them. This seems to be true not only in running and other sports, but in life. Even in their spiritual life. Oh, yes, I went there. Before I explain, let me take you to Habakkuk 2:2-3.

“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.” (ESV)

One morning when I went to prayer, the Holy Spirit directed me to this passage. Instead of me talking to the Lord, for two hours the Lord taught me something out of the scriptures. When I study scripture, I read a passage multiple times, almost until I have it memorized. That embeds it into my brain and heart and helps me process what the Lord is saying. After I read through Habakkuk 2:2-3 a few times, I saw something I had never seen before and became confused. Specific words jumped out at me: run, awaits, hastens, slow, wait, and delay. All six of these words deal with time. The word, “hasten,” basically means, “quick” or “run.” So, it appears God is telling the prophet, “Write the vision, run with it, but wait for it. The vision is also running but waiting, but it won’t be delayed.” Are you confused, yet? Then you understand what I mean.

I prayerfully asked the Lord to make sense of this for me. The first question I had to answer was “What is the Lord asking of me?” Two things: Run with the vision and wait for the vision. I have always been a man of vision. I have a vision for ministry, a big one. I believe that what God is doing in my life is bigger than me. The vision is what keeps me going every single day. My perception of my relationship with the vision, however, has been slightly flawed until recently. I have always perceived my vision to be something I carried. Therefore, If I didn’t pursue and fulfill the vision, it wouldn’t come to be. It’s as if my vision has been like the “picture” of what God is going to do, that I have carried around in my wallet. I pull it out periodically to remind myself or show others, “Look what God is going to do!” That mindset infers that the vision is about me. It’s my responsibility. It’s my project and I have to make it happen.

Suddenly, I realized this flawed thinking is the reason I get so frustrated with myself when things are not happening in my life and ministry as I think they should. When I work a plan, and the plan doesn’t work out to my expectations, I question my ability, I question my worthiness, I question my motive. I never question the vision because I believe it’s from God, but begin to see myself as a failure because “I can’t do it.” This is how the enemy gets in my head. On this day, however, I saw it a different way.

Maybe what I’m about to say isn’t an epiphany for you like it was for me but, regardless, it’s pretty powerful. Here it goes. The vision is not a “picture’ of my future that I carry around. It is the “image” of my future. The vision is alive. Let me put it another way. My son, Seth, is my future. Through him, future generations will be born into my family. A picture of my son that I carry in my wallet is a picture of my future. Because we live 350 miles apart, I look at his picture quite often. But having my son standing next to me is better than a picture. It is my son, in my image, standing next to me. I’d rather have the living, breathing, present version of Seth with me than just a picture of him in my pocket. My vision, the thing God says is in my future, is not just a picture I carry. It’s a living image that I run with!

Picture two runners, running in tandem. They are running on a track. One represents you and the other represents your vision. You are running in the framework of time, but your vision is running in the framework of eternity. Why? Because, in Jeremiah chapter 1, God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and I appointed you a prophet to the nations”.Vision is an appointment. That was Jeremiah’s vision, the image of his future. That vision circled the track of eternity awaiting Jeremiah’s appointment. Likewise, your vision, the image of your future, was appointed to you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. God’s is saying to you, when I intersect your life with the vision I have for you, run with it!

Run with it. Not ahead of it, not behind it, but with it. Your vision is the living version of your future. It’s hastening (running) to it’s appointed time. When God calls you, you have to get in step with, on pace with, your vision. If you get ahead of it, it’ll seem slow. When that happens, you’re out of step, wait for it. For even when your vision seems slow, it will not be delayed; your vision will make it’s appointed time. I hear the Lord saying, “Slow and delayed are not the same thing.” You can’t get ahead of the vision. You wouldn’t be ready for what God has. You can’t lag behind the vision, because it won’t be delayed, and you’ll miss your opportunity.

You cannot walk and keep up with your vision. When you’re fighting a battle, you don’t walk anywhere. You run! When you run with the vision, you outrun your doubts. When you run with the vision, you outrun the naysayers. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah outran Ahab’s chariot. In 1 Kings 19, Elisha was plowing in the field, but when Elijah appeared, he left the oxen and ran to meet Elijah. If you want to be part of the vision God has planned for you, you are going to have to “run with the vision!”  Psalm 147:5 says, God’s “Word runs swiftly.” In Jeremiah 1:12, God said, “I will hasten my word to perform it!” God is moving. His planned future for you is on the move. Are you running with your vision?

You might say, “Jeff, sometimes I get weary.” I understand. Me too. Usually when I get weary, I’m running in the wrong direction or running after the wrong goal. When you run with your vision, you’ll feel the strength of Isaiah 40:31, “They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength…they will run and not be weary.”

By now, you’re wondering what in the world this has to do with the marathon conversation we started with.

Here it is. Accomplishing and walking in the vision God has for your life is likened to a marathon. You are “running with the vision.” There is a price to be paid to run with the vision. God has your number, so to speak. He’s put a “bib” on you. Remember, that’s the thing runners wear on their chest to identify them as official participants. When you accomplish what God has planned for you, you will have been there from the beginning. You will have the wounds and scars to prove you’ve paid the price for your anointing. You will be assisted along the way by those whom God has intersected with your life to feed you with the Word of God, hydrate you with living water, and bring help and healing to your wounds. It’s all part of the marathon of your vision.

On the other hand. Some people are bandits. They want the anointing, but they don’t want to pay the price. They want the harvest, but they don’t want to sow the seeds. They want to be served, but they don’t want to serve. They want to get to the palace without going the route of the pit and the prison. The jump in and out of the race with no rhyme or reason to their lives. They have no discipline, determination or purpose. They get weary because they’re chasing someone else’s vision. They want the demonstration without the dedication. They are bandits.

Bib or bandit, which is it going to be for you?