The Race is Won by those who continue to run
Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus:
When does it really get hard to run in a race? It is when you hear the people starting to cheer for those who have finished ahead of you...and you are still running. The analogy that Paul used as a way to explain perseverance is one which we still have a difficult time with in this life.
1. Why even run in a race that you cannot win? No one that I have ever known enters into a race with the idea of loosing do they...or do they? In great marathons people enter the race all of the time just to try to compete against themselves and their own personal best times. For these people the perspective becomes completely different than a prize that is set before someone a a winner over all others.
2. I think our basic perspective has been off track now for a long time when it comes to how we see a victory in our lives. The world wants us to compete against one another in or to find out who is the best at something for an event. We don't realize that if any one of many circumstances had changed the person who claims the prize on that day would likely not be the winner the next time...even if all people were rested and ready to run that race again in five minutes there is a good chance that someone else would come out winning that same race.
3. We only need one or two things to change in our lives for a different outcome to happen in the race that we run as well. Among the first is our attitude concerning self and what our personal worth is in running. Some people just love it for personal benefits, and for what it brings to their life in the way of people they meet and places they go...it may have nothing to do with winning a prize.
When Paul spoke about running the race...about not giving up; he was speaking about a different kind of opponent as well. We are not competing against one another at all, but we are fighting against the principalities and powers of heavenly ( or spiritual) places, and not against people at all. The race we run then is not for speed or even recognition, but for the development of our endurance over an eternity of time. We must put all that we have into the effort to finish the race laid out before us. The race is one by finishing the course and not by the speed with which we run. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
When does it really get hard to run in a race? It is when you hear the people starting to cheer for those who have finished ahead of you...and you are still running. The analogy that Paul used as a way to explain perseverance is one which we still have a difficult time with in this life.
1. Why even run in a race that you cannot win? No one that I have ever known enters into a race with the idea of loosing do they...or do they? In great marathons people enter the race all of the time just to try to compete against themselves and their own personal best times. For these people the perspective becomes completely different than a prize that is set before someone a a winner over all others.
2. I think our basic perspective has been off track now for a long time when it comes to how we see a victory in our lives. The world wants us to compete against one another in or to find out who is the best at something for an event. We don't realize that if any one of many circumstances had changed the person who claims the prize on that day would likely not be the winner the next time...even if all people were rested and ready to run that race again in five minutes there is a good chance that someone else would come out winning that same race.
3. We only need one or two things to change in our lives for a different outcome to happen in the race that we run as well. Among the first is our attitude concerning self and what our personal worth is in running. Some people just love it for personal benefits, and for what it brings to their life in the way of people they meet and places they go...it may have nothing to do with winning a prize.
When Paul spoke about running the race...about not giving up; he was speaking about a different kind of opponent as well. We are not competing against one another at all, but we are fighting against the principalities and powers of heavenly ( or spiritual) places, and not against people at all. The race we run then is not for speed or even recognition, but for the development of our endurance over an eternity of time. We must put all that we have into the effort to finish the race laid out before us. The race is one by finishing the course and not by the speed with which we run. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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