To tame a lion

Portions from a poem, by John Newton:

The lion though by nature wild ,
the art of man can tame.
He stands before his keeper mild,
and gentle as a lamb.

But man himself, who thus subdues,
the fiercest beast of prey,
a nature more unfeeling shows,
And far more fierce than they.

Though by the Lord preserv'd and fed,
He proves rebellious still;
And while he eats his Maker's bread,
Resists his holy will.

Later in the poem it ends by saying, "may we be delivered from our lions or may they be kept in chains!" Dealing with the lions in our lives requires real courage and unwavering discipline, but a person doesn't do that unless they consider it worth the effort.

I suppose there is not one person who runs in the Boston marathon who doesn't consider it worth the effort and training required to tame their own personal lions.  Even after the recent bombing, I heard one runner in an interview say that they would not hesitate to run again regardless of any potential, personal danger.  It seems that there is something about the challenge of running 26.2 miles that brings enough value to risk life and limb. The Boston marathon, during its centennial, attracted  36,748 starters with almost 35,868 finishers.  That is less than a 3% failure rate, which is astounding, and only serves to reinforce the idea that something as tangible as this race has a profound and positive impact on the way people qualify their lives. Part of how a person might qualify their life may be more about how they see themselves congruently with how they believe others to see them.   The psychology of our identity is intrinsically connected with our personal sense of self-worth,  which impacts how we navigate through the interpersonal maze. Many may begin a race, some don't even try and some just fail to see it as worthwhile,  but the ones who do and especially those who press on to the finish, have their own personal victory over the aggravating perturbations stirred by the conflict of will and sinew. However, with each victory there will always be a greater sense of confidence crucial for future test of endurance.

In particular, the social aspect of life, is far more complex than a marathon, but the mentality and the trained discipline which sustains the runner is innately a part of what we need if we are to run a good race with one another and before God. Many may find a sense of value in this earthly achievement, which has, at best, only a fading glory, but there is another kind of race, described in chapter 12 of the book of Hebrews in which the writer speaks of a race which has greater worth of eternal reward. The witnesses of this race are those that have gone before us and now are represented as great cloud of witnesses, not of this temporal reality, but of the life to come. These witnesses are those courageous souls, described in the previous chapter, who ran and finished the good race of faith without faltering in their relentless pursuit of a heavenly prize.  Their legacy still lives on not only for our encouragement, but will live on as an eternal proclamation to the glory of God, demonstrated by men and women who loved their Savior more than life itself. The worthy example of those who have gone before us in this race of faith and finished well, leaves us with this challenge,  what then will be our legacy?