If there was ever race you should skip out on, it would be the rat race—talk about running a hamster wheel. It is filled with nothing but useless competition to gain money, power, and recognition. Yes, competition can be healthy, but that is surely not the race you want to be running. It’s the quickest way to running yourself in the ground or even in debt. There’s just no keeping up with the Jones’, and we all know what keeping up with those people will get you, no where fast. But we all should be running a race, and that race should be the one set out for us by God. The difference between the two is that our only competition is with ourselves. And the only judge giving us our reward is God.
“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” Ecclesiastes 9:11
When you run the race God has set forth for you, you will understand that it is not for the swift, but for the one who endures. See, life has a funny way of putting hurdles in front of us to change our course, but it is up to us to maintain and keep our eyes on the prize of the higher calling. We have to know that with faith, all things are made possible, even in the face of trial and error. So regardless how hard it may be, you just have to keep running.
Remember that God has poured very special talents into each and every one of us. We’re all blessed and good at something. But when you keep your eyes on what everyone else is doing, you may just find yourself missing out on what it is God has planned for you. Our goals and aspirations shouldn’t be dependent on the successes of others, but it should be tailored to what we know will not only make us happy and help us to achieve our place in the kingdom of heaven.
And as expressed before, healthy competition isn’t exactly a bad thing, but the key is to compete against you. Look at where you’ve been, where you are, and where you want to go. Let your journey be your marker. Be patient, there’s no clock you have to outrun. No one can stand next to you and beat you at your own race. What is for you is for you—designed specifically for what has been planted in you. So as you run your own race, strengthen your faith muscles and you will be rewarded. And get this we all can be winners.
Watch this sermon for more inspiration: