I watch a couple of people race each other recently… Like backyard style, not on a track. One person got ahead quickly but not by a lot. It looked like they were set to win the race, then they violated good racing… They looked back to see where the other runner was, and the runner in the back started catching up. They look back again and they were catching up again. When the lead runner was looking where they were heading, they kept their distance but when they looked back that distance shrunk. Eventually the runner in the back caught up and took the lead to win the race.
Had the lead runner kept their eyes ahead of them instead being so concerned with the other runner they would have won easily. I think this is true in my life too. There are people all around me who do marriage, parenting, ministry, and friendships so differently than me that causes me to look at them and be jealous, insecure, or question myself. Comparison cripples me. I forget to look ahead at the finish line and get distracted by other people around me.
1 Corinthians 9:24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.
Running to win does not allow us to look at people running in other lanes, because that is not the lane God designed for us to run in. How often do we look at what other people drive, who is friends with who, who has money, or any number of other things? We loose speed when we try compare ourselves to what other people have. What about you? Where do you need to focus on you lane? Where do you need to keep your eyes on a prize that will last instead of one that doesn’t? Where do you need to discipline yourself to develop your gifts to win your race? Where is comparison killing your potential?
Ask Holy Spirit right now what He wants to do in? Where does he want to develop you, train you? What does he want your eyes to be focused on? Go to Him now and RUN TO WIN!
Recklessly, obsessively following Jesus
Brandon Sereg
