“Let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1, KJV). The very word race suggests competition. God’s people are likened to runners in a long distance race, competing for a prize — the prize being a glorious revelation of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
We corrupt the race towards eternity when God’s people compete with one another for success, prosperity and acclaim. Christ becomes nothing more than the sponsor, since all the runners claim to be competing in his name.
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). There was a time when the race was not to the swift or prosperous but, rather, to the humble and weak. This race encountered persecution, privation, hardness and martyrdom. Why did these runners go through such turmoil and suffering rather than drop out? Simply because, to them, the prize was worth it all. They wanted nothing but Christ!
If faith is rewarded with anything short of the prize of a high calling in Christ Jesus, it is not worth competing for. The winner of this race is the child of God who wants to obtain nothing but more of Jesus, casting the things of this world at the feet of the cross as worthless junk.
The Christian who gives up competition for worldly objects and applause will discover what it means to be content. In all history, only those who have learned to renounce the world and all that is in it have discovered true happiness. One such person said, “I never knew what it meant to be happy until I quit striving to be great.”
Ask the Lord today to refocus your attention so that you will win the worthy prize of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.