A friend recently ran his first marathon. When talking about the 26.2 mile run, he said something that surprised us. “The hardest part of the race was not actually the running part. It was the mental part. I found myself wanting to quit and walk at mile 24, but I kept running. And then, all of a sudden, I saw the finish line and I was motivated to keep going.”

When I heard that, I couldn’t help but think of our walk as Christians. So often, it’s easy to get caught up in the world around us. We get sucked into social media, or political debates, or keeping up with trends, when the truth is we’re supposed to be running a race. We are called to live on mission, to share the Good News with people around us. But when we lose sight of our mission, we can get distracted and wander from our goal.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 9:24, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may get the prize.” This week, in whatever you are doing, keep your mission as a Jesus-follower in mind. Be intentional and live with purpose. Don’t get sidetracked before the finish line.

This is Luis Palau.