{"id":62547,"date":"2026-01-12T21:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/marathon-finish-line\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T21:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:55:00","slug":"marathon-finish-line","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/marathon-finish-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Marathon Finish Line"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A <em>New York Times<\/em> article was titled, &ldquo;The Meaning of the Boston Marathon Finish Line, Then and Now.&rdquo; This was the opening line: &ldquo;For many runners, the marathon finish line feels holy, and reaching it divine.&rdquo; Then it said, &ldquo;The Boston Marathon is arguably the most elusive finish line of all, and not just anyone can cross it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>We are in a race like that! And the finish line is everything to us! Paul wrote, &quot;I have finished the race.&quot;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3771,3793,3794,3795,4167,4629,4916,5233],"tax_ctp_topics":[401],"class_list":["post-62547","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-determination","tax_ctp_tags-discipleship","tax_ctp_tags-discipline","tax_ctp_tags-disciplines","tax_ctp_tags-hope","tax_ctp_tags-perseverance","tax_ctp_tags-self-discipline","tax_ctp_tags-victory"],"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}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - 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