Imagine the rush of people running the Boston Marathon, all running towards the same finish line. Each year, thousands of individuals train, do intense work outs, discipline themselves, train even harder, and then work out even harder all over again – all for one thing; to complete the Boston Marathon. Runners from around the country may train year round just qualify for such a race. It takes dedication, pain, endurance and perseverance.
I was driving home from dropping my sister off at work this morning and all the traffic reminded me of a different kind of race, this time not with runners but with luxury vehicles (I wouldn’t consider my car necessarily a luxury vehicle – just the cars around me of course), racing to get to their high paying job. Racing to get their kids to their expensive private schools. Racing to beat the red light or cutting people off just to get a car or so ahead. If this was counted as a sport in the Olympics, it’s fare to say a lot of the athletes would be disqualified for playing dirty and not sticking to the rules.
Noticing these suit wearing business men racing by in their BMW’s and plastic looking soccer moms racing by in their fancy SUV’s, reminded me that so much of humanity is stuck running the wrong race. They are chasing after the wealth and affirmation of man, ultimately missing the point. Yeah it's taken a lot of training, pain, endurance and perseverance to run this type of race, but for what? They’ve been training for years, for a race that will never fulfill the emptiness in their souls – making good grades, getting into the right colleges, getting the right job, and still never making enough money or feeling true purpose. Missing the real race, the race that was marked out for us – the race that has purpose, eternal metals and grand prizewinners.
Jesus has set a race for us. Not a race for earthly possessions or glory, but for His glory. Not a race towards pleasing human or terrorizing others just to get ahead. The race marked out for us is a hard course; it’s to be proceeded with caution. We must be ready and equipped to take on this race, persecution and strive might pass us along the way, but we must keep on running.
The race is towards the ultimate finish line, eternal life with Jesus Christ. This race isn’t glamorous or popular; it’s about taking risks, sacrifice, and living life uncomfortably. It’s not an easy course, the paths are sometimes unclear but we must keep running. The Holy Spirit keeps us hydrated and training simply involves pursuing an intimate relationship with the Creator of the world, meditating of the Word, stretching ourselves to be more Christ like daily, and developing a disciplined prayer life.
Ask God to reveal himself to you and He will. Examine the race you’re currently running and make sure it’s the one that’s worth it in the end. Rearrange the desires and dreams you’re racing towards to be sure God is getting the glory!
I was driving home from dropping my sister off at work this morning and all the traffic reminded me of a different kind of race, this time not with runners but with luxury vehicles (I wouldn’t consider my car necessarily a luxury vehicle – just the cars around me of course), racing to get to their high paying job. Racing to get their kids to their expensive private schools. Racing to beat the red light or cutting people off just to get a car or so ahead. If this was counted as a sport in the Olympics, it’s fare to say a lot of the athletes would be disqualified for playing dirty and not sticking to the rules.
Noticing these suit wearing business men racing by in their BMW’s and plastic looking soccer moms racing by in their fancy SUV’s, reminded me that so much of humanity is stuck running the wrong race. They are chasing after the wealth and affirmation of man, ultimately missing the point. Yeah it's taken a lot of training, pain, endurance and perseverance to run this type of race, but for what? They’ve been training for years, for a race that will never fulfill the emptiness in their souls – making good grades, getting into the right colleges, getting the right job, and still never making enough money or feeling true purpose. Missing the real race, the race that was marked out for us – the race that has purpose, eternal metals and grand prizewinners.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
– Hebrews 12:1-3
Jesus has set a race for us. Not a race for earthly possessions or glory, but for His glory. Not a race towards pleasing human or terrorizing others just to get ahead. The race marked out for us is a hard course; it’s to be proceeded with caution. We must be ready and equipped to take on this race, persecution and strive might pass us along the way, but we must keep on running.The race is towards the ultimate finish line, eternal life with Jesus Christ. This race isn’t glamorous or popular; it’s about taking risks, sacrifice, and living life uncomfortably. It’s not an easy course, the paths are sometimes unclear but we must keep running. The Holy Spirit keeps us hydrated and training simply involves pursuing an intimate relationship with the Creator of the world, meditating of the Word, stretching ourselves to be more Christ like daily, and developing a disciplined prayer life.
Ask God to reveal himself to you and He will. Examine the race you’re currently running and make sure it’s the one that’s worth it in the end. Rearrange the desires and dreams you’re racing towards to be sure God is getting the glory!
3 comments:
These people with wealth may serve the same God you do. Also, judgement is not the thing they need. Maybe judgements like yours is what has pushed the away from running the race to God.
No one is judging here, these are simply observations, personal thoughts & opinions.
I know a lot of people that are wealthy; drive nice cars, send their kids to private schools, that LOVE & serve God. Their lives clearly show that they are running and chasing after God, in the race that He marked for them.
Today's society teaches us to get good grades, go to the right colleges, and to get a good job... the sole purpose being, to make tons of money. That's not what God intended.
However, God does call certain people to wealth, within the body of Christ. It's up to them personally whether or not they are good stewards of the wealth God has blessed them with.
Hopefully that clears up any misinterpretations you had reading this post :)
Honey, I hope that "anonymous" wasn't one of my friends, if they are they clearly don't know me or my family very well, and it would serve them well to know the author before making "judgmental" statements as the one they did "anonymously".
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