Ready, Set, Go!

For those of you who don’t know me very well, let me tell you a little secret about myself.  I’m competitive.  I mean, I really love to win, be the first, and be the best at anything I’m competing in. It doesn’t matter if it’s playing a board game with my five year old or playing soccer with my son who is ten, I will play like there is a million dollar cash prize.  And although the feeling to dominate and crush the competition has lessened as I have gotten older, it’s still there.

This drive to win was a cause of frustration for me the other day at my sons’ school. It was field day and I was in charge of a water relay game. While some of the participants were focused, others were not. And it was not difficult to tell the two apart. The ones who were focused were just that, focused. They kept their eyes ahead of them on the race, even if they weren’t the ones running.  They didn’t talk to those around them, and they didn’t even care how wet they became because they understood the object of the game was not to stay dry but to fill the bucket first.

 The group of kids who were not focused might have wanted to win but it was not their first priority. They chatted and played with those around them, holding up the whole team because they were not paying attention.  Some kids, because they didn’t want to get wet, decided to sit out completely.  It was with the unfocused group that I found myself being frustrated. The soccer coach in me wanted to burst out screaming harsh yet motivational sentiments, but I figured that the principle wouldn’t like it if one of the volunteers kept making children cry, so I just let the kids be kids.

It occurred to me while I was watching all the elementary madness that there might be some Christians out there who have forgotten they are in a race. The writer of Hebrews makes it very clear that we are to, “run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Heb. 12:1) It would have been nice if God had wanted us to run a pleasure cruise or life of leisure but no, we are to run a race. Races are long, and can be rough and arduous; taxing to both the mind and body. In fact, some races are so difficult, people decided to quit and just sit out.  For sure, races are no pleasure cruise.

Here’s the key to running a successful race; we need to stay focused. We need to pay attention to the race God has called us to. Satan will do everything in his power to distract us from what we are supposed to be doing, and if we fall into his trap the whole team, the Kingdom of God, suffers for it. We have to push through the pain of struggling and be determined to keep our eyes on Jesus even though we know we are going to get drenched with aggravations and heartaches. 

Now, here’s the good thing; we aren’t running our race just to be out there running. There will come a day when we will be able to say what Paul said, “…I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will give me on that Day…” (2 Tim. 4:7) Isn’t that great! We get a prize and all we have to do is cross the finish line. But until then, let’s stay focused. We’ve got a race to run!