Everyone's Race Looks Different

This morning in Sunday School we discussed perseverance.  Hebrews offers us an incredible glimpse into the "hall of faith" heroes who ran their race with perseverance and crossed the finish line into God's Presence.  Being a runner, I love the analogy of running a race.  Training, discipline, passion, endurance, strategy, fuel, equipment, fans, and time.  All of these are needed to run a good race.  All of these are needed in the marathon of life.  Perseverance doesn't come natural.  We even have to work at persevering.  The world we live in worships self and the "you deserve the easy life" mentality.  It becomes a magnet, drawing us away from the True Compass that will guide us to the only finish line that will ever matter.

How creative is our God to give each one of us gifts and passions for our unique race?!  My race will not look like someone else's race and that person's race will not look like mine or anyone else's.  We each were created for purpose and God's Will for us is to walk with Him daily as He coaches us through each phase of our race.  Uphills, downhills, cross-terrain, heat, cold, fueled, and empty.  All seasons will be experienced over the course of our race.  He is the constant that will never change during any part of our race.  He alone is our strength in every step we pound on the pavement of life.

In our humanness we tend to compare.  My race doesn't look like so-and-so's race.  So-and-so needs to be more passionate about ________ like I am.  Everyone should _______, just like me.  We get our eyes fixed on what we think "the" race of life should look like, that when we find others not meeting our vision, we begin to criticize and judge.  Reality is, everyone's race is going to look different.  Question is, am I running the race God designed just for me?  Challenge is, do I judge other's races?

If you have ever run in a race, then you know that every runner is different.  Their journey prior to race day is different from anyone else's, they will run a race like no one else, and they will return home to running in their own unique way.  But bottom line is they are all runners.  Running for different reasons, different causes, different abilities, different goals.  But the fact that they are out there running means they are each running with passion.  When that passion for your race is rooted in God's Will, you can persevere through any obstacle and keep running the race before you.  The other runners running their own races should no longer be seen as "competition" but as teammates.  Everyone will cross THE finish line into eternity---did I run my race well?  Did I place my faith in Jesus so that my eternity will not be in separation from God?   Everyone's race looks different, but God desires that everyone runs their race with Him and finishes in His Presence.

"...and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith."  ~Hebrews 12: 1-2