Not Finished Yet - I Am a Work In Progress - Be Patient With Me

“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” ~ 1 Corinthians 9:24 

In the last couple of days many thoughts preoccupied my thinking pattern. In the church I attend there are things that should not be, there is pain caused by church leaders and there is even more presumption because there is no honest communication. 

Friday I attended a school relay event with thousands of kids competing against each other.  It was a wonderful day to be outside and watch my kids’ excitement from the time we left until we come home.

It was very obvious as they got closer to complete that nervousness filled the air. They took this race very seriously as they should. If you are not nervous before a race, means that you don’t care. If you don’t care you will never give your best and if you don’t give your best you’ll never win the race. 

I sat in the freshly cut grass and watched their run. The difference between the winner and looser was only seconds or parts of a second. 

They lined up beside each other and I could see how they measured up themselves against their competitors. Some of them right there in that second won or lost.

He/she is taller then me, stronger, faster. I don’t have a chance against them. I will win this one. He might be taller, but I am faster.

I was listening to their comments and saw a parallel between their results and comments they made right there before they even started to run.

Then the run began. The passing of baton is significant in this race too. How you pass the baton can make or break the team results. A well implemented baton pass could put you well ahead of the other teams.

And then, they began to run. How do you run? Kids had the tendency to look on the sides to assess where their position is. What a mistake that was. Some in the last feet lost because they lost their focus and instead of looking ahead they looked to the sides.

I can tell you one thing for sure; most of the winners had a unique running position. Looking ahead with heads lifted little up and not thinking about their competitors. It was their own race, they gave their own best, they didn’t worry about the person besides them, and they ran to win. And they did won.

My boys finished fourth against thirty-six competitors. It was their best finish. They are going to turn ten years old soon. They were happy with the results but disappointed that they didn’t won. They wanted to be the first, they wanted so badly to win this race.

I told them that there were thirty-six competitors and only one team can be the number one team. In life you have to learn to do your best, your very best and let the rest to God. Somebody has to loose too, without losers there would be no winners. They looked at me and said: yes mom, but I want to be a winner! I told them I like their attitude, I like that they want to win. I told them they have to practice more for next time.

We are in a race. The race of life, the race of faith. Do we run to win?

When we line up against our competitors all we see is them? How tall, how strong, how fast they are or do we see that we have a God right beside us? They might be taller and stronger, but I can pass them with God. There is a battle in our mind at all times. The enemy wants us to see our competitor and threaten us. When you look around how do you see yourself? As a winner or a looser? You don’t even have to run, you can win the race right there in that moment. When you look at your competitors remember who you are too. Don’t just see them, remember who you are: the child of the Most Highly God. And if God is for us who is against us? (Roma 8:31)

Have a team of people who are there for you. Who will pass the baton into your hands the right way. Sometimes the people we trust the most are the ones who slow us down the most, because they are there for themselves. This is a team game, you have to have a team goal, you all in together to win the race. It breaks my heart when I see Christians competing against each other. Christian brothers and sisters, who will do everything to slow you down, because they are jealous, and they don’t want you to win. Their mentality is - if they’re not fast enough then you should slow down too.

Finally, your running position. Look ahead – “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,” ~ Philippians 3:13 and keep your head upwards, keep your focus on the finish line, don’t look sideways, never even attend to look back. Run to win the race, because there is a prize waiting for you and me. “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” ~ Philippians 3:14

Spending a day with my kids on a race track reminded me to stay focus. Focus on God, focus on what he called us to do and when we see that around us the competitors might look stronger and faster, just look up, just stay focus and just remember that God is on our side and sooner or later those who are not running for Him and with Him will be left behind.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” ~ Hebrews 12:1

In your race how do you see your competitors? How do you see yourself? What is your running position? Where is your focus? Run to Win the Race!