Run Your Race
One of the most difficult, yet most vital thing to do today is to run your race. In the era of social media today, we are constantly bombarded with other people’s lives. We get a peek into their weddings, their families, their careers, their vacations. Or rather, we get a peek into what they want us to believe about their lives. And before we know it, we start to subconsciously run their race, instead of running our own race.
What does the Word say about this?
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Exodus 20:17
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
We see this practically in this parable. The master dealt with the servants as individuals. He entrusted his wealth to them individually and he judged them on the merit of what they each accomplished individually. At no time do you find the master comparing one servant to the other. At no time do you see the servants pull up the records of the other…” I did better than the other servant. See, he only added another two bags of gold, while I added another five bags. As far as the records show, I am the best performing servant here.” Neither do we hear the servant who did not multiply the wealth say, “Look, I did not multiply your wealth. However, as a group, you gave us a total of eight bags and now we have returned an additional seven bags. We have done well!” Why didn’t they do this?
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.
To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
Matthew 25:14-15
God judges us on the merits of the ability He has put in each of us. Why? Because He has created us uniquely for His own purposes.
Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8
We are each a vessel in God’s hand. He created and equipped us for the work He has for each of us.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
Your Turn
You have a race to run. In this race, you are not running against anyone. You are not in competition with anyone. It may seem like everyone is going ahead of you and it is tempting to try and pattern your life after that person(s) you admire.
The world’s system has conditioned us to rank ourselves against each other. But can a gymnast be ranked against a swimmer? They are competing in two very different races. Similarly, you are running a different race from every individual on the face of the earth. The race you are running is a race against yourself, based on the ability God has given you. Your faithfulness in running your own race will determine your progress in life and the reward you will receive from the Master.
His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.
Matthew 25:26-29
Take heed to the words of Apostle Paul and run your race in such a way as to get the prize.