Continue the Christian Life How You Started the Christian Life
By Michael Kelley
The world’s fastest man, for the moment, is American Noah Lyles. That’s because the title of world’s fastest man is generally attributed to the winner of the 100-meter sprint final at the Olympics, and Lyles won in the Paris games in 2024. His time was 9.79 seconds. To put that in context, it means Noah Lyle, if he were running in a school zone, he would technically be speeding.
The thing is, two people actually ran a 9.79-second time in that race in Paris. Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson got the same time, and it was only on further analysis that Noah Lyles was determined to be five one-thousandths faster. To put that in context, it means the physical margin of victory in that entire 100-meter race was roughly the width of a credit card or the thickness of an athlete's jersey fabric as they leaned over the finish line.
There are many things you can take from that example, but for our purposes today, it points us not to the importance of the finish line, but the importance of the starting blocks. A world-class sprinter reaches one-third of their top speed within the initial five percent of the race, so the slightest error in the starting blocks makes all the difference in the world. When titles are decided by the width of a credit card, an athlete’s foot placement and explosive drive out of the blocks aren’t just technical details; they are the exact fractions of a second that separate the winner from the “also ran’s.”
Those blocks must be absolutely sure and steady. They must provide complete stability; an absolutely firm place from which to launch from. And many Christians think of the message of the gospel like the starting blocks of the Christian life. It makes sense when you think about it - after all, it was Paul who compared the Christian life to a race that needs to be run with perseverance. And it was also Paul who said that we should fix our eyes on Jesus and leave behind anything that hinders us. So in that analogy, the simple message of the gospel is that firm starting point. We brace ourselves against the gospel, and then we push off and start to run the race of the Christian life. Obviously, no athlete would carry the starting blocks with them as they start to run, and just like that, we have that firm starting point and then leave the gospel behind as we run.
Problem is, that understanding of the gospel directly contradicts what Paul writes in the book of Colossians:
So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude (Colossians 2:6-7).
Those verses essentially say the same thing in three different ways. Paul says as you received, continue to walk. As you were rooted, continue to be built. And as you were taught, continue to be established. His message to the Colossians is that the continuance of the Christian life happens in the same way that the beginning of the Christian life happens.
Or, to put it another way, the Christian never moves on from the gospel.
Why might we move on from the gospel? Perhaps because of our boredom - we tend to always be fascinated with the next best thing. Or it might be because of our pride - after all, core to believing the gospel is believing that we are hopeless in our sin, and if some other religious methodology offers to bolster our egos we might find it more appealing. But most likely we move on because we fail to understand the depth and breadth of the gospel.
The gospel is much more than a ticket to heaven. And if we are to continue in the way we started - if we are to NOT move on from the gospel, it means that the gospel becomes, over time, the driving force behind every part of our lives. Let’s return to the race track illustration.
Is the gospel the starting blocks? Yes, it certainly is. We can’t get running without it. But we must not misunderstand the scope of the gospel to be the starting blocks only. It’s not only the starting blocks; it’s the entire track itself.
Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.
