Run 2!

Run 2!

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 AMPC

[24]  Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but [only] one receives the prize? So run [your race] that you may lay hold [of the prize] and make it yours. [25]  Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things. They do it to win a wreath that will soon wither, but we [do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness] that cannot wither.

Like all human races, there is an end goal in view, which is to win the ultimate prize. Men and women put in years of effort for a race that may not even last up to half a minute. You also find people who are put under pressure to deliver the prize and they go into fraud and performance- enhancing drugs, just to give them an edge over other people. You do not show up for a race that you have not prepared for, and you do not also show up on the athletics field if you have practiced and prepared for basketball. You come to run the race that you have been registered for. As it is in the physical, so is it in the spiritual. For all of us on earth, we have been called into a race. You may not admit it now, but being born into this world means being given a role and an assignment to impact the world you have been placed in. I cannot really start the journey the right way until I know what that role is. Do you know why you were born?

We all get onto the racetrack of life, and we are required to run our own race. Unlike the world's standards, this is not a race where you reward only the top 3, because it is not a race of who is fastest. It is a personal race to the finish line, whenever that may be for the one running. Some will run it as a dash or sprint, while for others, it is a mini or full marathon. This is not a race in which you compare your speed to the person standing next to you, because both of you do not have the same terms and conditions, and you do not have the same/exact assignment. Indeed, you may find yourself in the same environment or mission field, but God will be using the different skills and gifts He has given everyone to achieve His purpose. I have to be content to focus on what I have been asked to do, and do it to the best of my abilty, in line with the supply of grace that God has made available. 

The race has rules. God expects me to run right so I can end right. I run as someone who has met the One who commissioned my race and has laid down the rules of engagement. The prize has also been laid out, so I know what I am denying myself for, and what I am looking forward to. There will be self-denial and sacrifices made; people will come into my life for a season or for a reason. I must know which one applies and not hold on to the props of men. Men can only offer me what they have, which is, at best, a crown that will soon fade away, or a record that is only good until another person breaks it. God promises me a crown of eternal blessedness that can never wither, because its source is not limited by time, space or circumstances. You know you cannot share one crown; you have to run the right way so you can receive your own crown. There is enough for everyone, because no demand on earth can exhaust the resources of heaven. Run right; win the crown. Help is available from the One who has called me to run. God's time of favour is here.