Why do you run the race called life? Are you running to gain a prize? Do you have goals set to achieve? Are you educating yourself? Do you train and practice regularly? Are you running a race that can be won?
We all run the race of life in one form or another. Some of us run to merely survive. Others run to obtain a crown of glory. And still others run for something in the middle. Unfortunately, there are many who run the race blind.
Running the race of life is challenging, even if we are merely running to survive. A very large portion of the world’s population is doing just that—running to survive. We, in America, often don’t see that race nor do we care to see it. We may acknowledge it on a superficial level in our minds, but we don’t really see it nor understand it. If you made $59,000 dollars in 2018, you were in the 91st percentile worldwide. That means you were among the 9% highest income individuals. Do you understand that means there were 91% of the world’s population who made less money than you did?
Of course, making money is only one way of determining how well we are running the race. Yet, it is one we Americans often use to judge our success. We think money will make us happy. It won’t. It is a hard lesson to learn and one that can have very dire consequences.
If we are not to strive for more money, what are we to strive for? We should seek the crown that will never tarnish. That is the crown of life. It is only obtained from God. It is what we receive as a follower of Jesus Christ. Unlike worldly possession that will eventually decay to the point of complete destruction, the crown of life will never decay.
Rather than chasing after more of this world, we should be chasing after more of Jesus. Only He can provide us what our heart’s truly desire. We don’t like to think of leaving this world, which is unfortunate. You see, if we are followers of Jesus, when we leave this world, we go to spend eternity with Him. We go to a place of perfect love, joy, and peace. All the hurt, hate, frustration, struggle, deception, conniving, and the rest of our discontent is gone forever.
I pray we all seek the crown of life. I pray we seek to follow Jesus. I pray each one of us realize the things of this world will disappear, while our eternal reward will not. Run the right race. Chase after the crown of life. Be a follower of Jesus. Find what your heart truly desires.
1 Corinthians 9:24-25 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.
Marty Pressey 