{"id":35837,"date":"2023-04-20T11:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T11:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/marathon-runner-changes-his-name-to-christian\/"},"modified":"2023-04-20T11:56:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T11:56:00","slug":"marathon-runner-changes-his-name-to-christian","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/marathon-runner-changes-his-name-to-christian\/","title":{"rendered":"Marathon Runner Changes His Name to \u2018Christian\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pastor Bryan Chapell writes in his recent book <em>Grace at Work<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I have a friend who&#39;s a marathon runner. He was in a race a few years ago that he knew would be tough, particularly at the end. And knowing what happens at the ends of races, how people call out encouragement, he didn&#39;t put his own name on his racing bib but actually wrote the word &ldquo;Christian.&rdquo; He knew that when he got to that final mile, and all the people were cheering, they wouldn&#39;t call out his name but would say, &quot;Go get `em, Christian!&quot; &quot;You can do it, Christian!&quot; &quot;Hang in there, Christian!&quot; He ran to represent the name of Christ that he bore.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>Colossians 3:17 tells us: &quot;Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.&quot; Everything you do should be in the name of Christ. When we are in the workplace, we bear the name of our Savior. Because we represent Christ, we don&#39;t cheat the boss on our timecards or on expense reports, even if others do. We don&#39;t lie to the IRS. Why? Because our Lord has written his name on us so that others can see him.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3372,3559,3583,3588,3601,4165,4203,4204,4264,4513,4807,5066,5294],"tax_ctp_topics":[382,401,403],"class_list":["post-35837","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-accountability","tax_ctp_tags-character","tax_ctp_tags-christ-our-righteousness","tax_ctp_tags-christian","tax_ctp_tags-church","tax_ctp_tags-honor","tax_ctp_tags-identity","tax_ctp_tags-identity-in-christ","tax_ctp_tags-integrity","tax_ctp_tags-name","tax_ctp_tags-reputation","tax_ctp_tags-sports","tax_ctp_tags-work-career"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Marathon Runner Changes His Name to \u2018Christian\u2019 - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/marathon-runner-changes-his-name-to-christian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marathon Runner Changes His Name to \u2018Christian\u2019 - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pastor Bryan Chapell writes in his recent book Grace at Work: I have a friend who&#039;s a marathon runner. 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