Which Way Do I Go? “Race”

Every person in the world has their own race to run in life! When I was in high school, I had a difficult time with direction and worse I needed glasses too, but didn’t know it yet! One day, I was running this most awesome race in the woods! So many colors and the air was filled with the fragrance of fall! We all lined up to run our race and suddenly a shot signaled us to go! I took off with all my heart and just kept going, I didn’t look back leaving everyone behind! I was excited because Fall is my favorite time of the year and the best part for me, the rain! I loved running in the rain!! I was so far ahead! It was quiet, peaceful and so beautiful! Finally, I realized, I didn’t know which path to take! I had to make a choice, do I just keep going not knowing where I was going or slow down and ask! There was no one around me and it was so quiet! I made the decision to slow down and ask the person behind me! She was surprised and could have lied to me too! I wanted to finish my race but I couldn’t do it alone and I needed help! I could not see the lines marked out for me and was completely depending on the person behind me! She pointed the way as I followed because I couldn’t see with the lines especially with all the rain. We can’t see the path marked for us in our life but we can trust God who is the one who marked it for us! I remain confident in what Jesus told me to do that is clearly marked out to share the good news about Jesus wherever I go! Matthew 28:16-20 NIV, “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Through this experience, I learned something about following! We all follow something or someone and to be a good follower means you either will go the right way or the wrong way depending on who you chose to follow! As we live our life, we must pray and pray for each other as we seek God first and His righteousness while we trust God in all parts of our life! We can remain confident Jesus will be with us and never leave us! Romans 12:2 NIV, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” There are two choices, either we will follow the world (conform) or God (transformed by the renewing of your mind) Our foundation is our starting block for our spiritual race and we must surround ourselves with people who will be your guard rails pointing you back to Jesus! We need our abiding relationship with Jesus, to know which way to go and that means we need a relationship with our sisters and brothers in Christ to help us, encourage, support, remind, spur us on, and point out our blind spots! God will surround you with people in your life at the right time, a cloud of witness! Hebrews 12:1 NIV, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” The things that hinder us could be pride by thinking we know best or not willing to listen to the wisdom God places in our life!

The starting block matters in our spiritual race! It’s starts with a relationship with Jesus, God’s one and only Son! God’s perfect gift for all of us! James 1:17-18 NIV, “17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” The world patterns are like the sinking sand, changing wind patterns, and moving shadows which will lead you astray, lost and eventually alone! If we don’t have a solid foundation, we will follow anything that benefits us during that time or phase in life we are going through! It would be like chasing the wind or following shadows! It didn’t make sense to my cross country coach when I asked the second place person where to go, and it won’t make sense to people who don’t know God’s love yet! There is no competition in the body of Christ!

When we chose to be transformed my the renewing of our minds, we chose to follow Jesus example filling ourselves up with His living words! Our race is marked out for us and it’s not a race to be in competition with each other because we are all individuals made in God’s image to do good works planned for us to do in advance! We are all apart of the body of Christ United with our sister and brothers! My coach only saw from the outside and didn’t know what was going on within the individual race we were running! We have to be guarded by truth from God’s living words from the Bible to not assume what we think we see in other peoples life or heard! We are instead supposed to love the way God loves, encourage, and support while we spurs each other on to love and good deeds! Life can get hard but don’t give up and don’t give up on each other including yourself! The battle isn’t against flesh and blood! We glorify God when we Unify together in Jesus by loving the way He loves, and forgive the way He forgives by not holding records of wrong! God’s love is never ending! John 14:27 NIV, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”