A relay race consists of one runner handing off a baton to another runner at specified exchange points along a race route. No one runner sprints the entire relay race.
One of the most respected relay races is the Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon. Runners race in 36 legs, or sections, from Mount Hood to the coast at Seaside, Oregon. Covering more than two hundred miles, over fifteen thousand runners make the trek each year, making this race a serious contender for the most important relay race in the history of the sport.
It would be unthinkable for a runner to consider his or her part so important as not to pass the baton along to the next runner in line. To hang on to that plastic wand would be as unthinkable as heading off the course to lie down beside the track for a nap.
Jeremiah knew how to hand off God’s baton when it was necessary. In Jeremiah 36:5-6, he calls Baruch, the son of Neriah, to his side. Jeremiah has reached an exchange point, and he knows it is time for Baruch to take the baton.
“I cannot go up to the house of the Lord,” Jeremiah tells Baruch. “You must be my feet and my mouth, telling all Judah the words of the Lord.”
Jeremiah knew the race was not his alone. He could not complete the two hundred miles from Mount Hood to Seaside. Not by himself. The race was more important than one man’s pride, for reaching the final goal carried greater weight than the ego of any participant along the way.
Even Jeremiah.
When we come into God’s kingdom, he has a job for us to do. Yet, our Christian walk is a relay race. At some points, God instructs us to hand the baton to the next runner in line. Giving up the baton is not giving up on God. Rather, it is allowing someone else to become important in the kingdom.
Our Christian walk isn’t a sprint to heaven. We are on a relay team, and everyone has an equal part to play.
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