The Race That is Set Before us - 6 Steps to Finishing Well

We are all running...The clock is ticking... Each step takes us closer to the finish line... We run on toward the goal, the tape, the finish line... an end of our race that we can't see but know is there. Man, it gets hard! We each carry some baggage, weights, and hindrances.  There are snares and entanglements in the terrain that we run through that cause us to trip and stumble. Man! This race is tough!

For believers - Christ followers - we have each been assigned a race. One trip around the track of life in the flesh on this Earth, running into our eternal destiny. For some our race is a sprint, for others middle distance, and for some a marathon, but for each it is a race that comes with an an obstacle course. Things get in our way as we run. We struggle to press on against the thought of giving up, to press on to finish strong. No one's race is easy but, unlike some races, in this race there will be more than one winner. In fact in this race, the real race that each of our lives represents in the eternal picture, everyone can win. Some won't, but everyone can win. To win is to finish life and to hear The Master say "Well done! Great race!"

What will be the criteria for winning? Simply put, it is to be and to do what we have been designed for and sent here to be and do. To win is to be what God has created us to be by His definition and based on His design.  His criteria which will have very little in common with those our culture holds high.

We are going to talk about what God's criteria are and what 6 tactics we need to incorporate in our lives to accomplish them.  But first, what are those weights, snares and entanglements that we all struggle through? There are at least 9 major struggles:

1) Unbelief

2) Complacency and compromise

3) Self-righteousness

4) The fear of, or desire for, the approval of Man

5) Love of sensual or fleshly pleasure

6) A worldly mindset or paradigm of life

7) Self confidence

8.) Hubris or arrogance

9.) Distracting and ungodly thoughts

As we run, these 9 snares are constantly jumping up at the least opportune time and are almost constantly trying to trip us or knock us off the track. Which of them do you identify with right now? Have you tripped over any lately? They are strategically placed by a purposeful antagonist whose job it is to test our commitment and desire to succeed and win our race.  His minions have worked for millenia to distract, deflect, and discourage many, many runners. They don't have to work on us though. We can win! Listen!

Our sovereign Trainer has given us at least 9 exercises that we can use to get past the snares and traps.  We can win if we use these tools diligently:

1) Faith in God and His Word

2) The Eternal Perspective of Life.

3) Meekness in serving others

4) Trust in God's opinion of us

5) A Stewardship Focus on God's Kingdom

6) Embracing the Narrow Path or the way of The Cross

7) Humility

8) Accurate self-assessment

9) Taking every thought captive to Jesus

We all run but, in fact, we don't run alone.  Nor do we run merely in our own strength, unless we choose to do so. The One who designed and sent us to run this race runs with us and in us He urges us on, warning us of dangers ahead, and helping us up when we fall. As each snare jumps into our path, He points out just the right tactic to avoid it and coaches us to apply it. He has given us a training manual and a personal trainer who never accepts less than what is best for us. We will expand on our Trainer's tactics and the 6 Characteristics Common to Finishing Well in our next post, but that's enough for today. What and whose tactics are you using to run your race? We are all running you know. Stride, stride, stride...

Buck Jacobs, AfC
Founder & Chairman
The C12 Group - America's leading Christian CEO roundtable provider since 1992
www.C12Group.com