Run to Win

"Do you not know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win." [I Cor 9:25]

It is early on Saturday morning and we are about to head out to a track meet. I love track meets. Watching young women and guys run is a thing of beauty. Some look like gazelles with their elongated and graceful strides. Though I never ran in track meets I did throw the shot put. When my event finished I used to gather my sack lunch and spend the rest of the day watching the speedsters run.

There are events in track that are pure gut checks. You have to not only overcome your opponent but also the heat, cold and blustery winds. These are easy compared the greatest opponent in your mind. While tracksters run the body begins to hurt and muscles fatigue. The mind sends a message that it cannot continue the current pace or go any faster. The mind can play tricks on you. You can always do more than you think you can. The runner can resolve to push through the pain and fatigue toward the finish line. Don't you love watching the person who finishes the last part of a lengthy race giving all they have.

This is true in life as well. How many really live lives running to win? When I researched the word run, it means to "exert yourself, to strive hard, to spend your strength." The path of least resistance is to coast through life giving minimal effort to the marriage, to parent children or to work. Honestly, how many people do you know who really run to win at life. Don't you see in others and maybe in yourself the tendency to slacken the pace the older you get. Don't you notice the pattern to pace yourself and hold something back especially when life becomes more demanding.

Run to win. Live to win. At a track meet only one person is going to win first place. Others may place for points in positions two through six, but there is only one winner per race. That is the person who exerts all the strength they have and strives with all their might to cross the finish line first. We celebrate these individuals. Shouldn't the same effort and strength be put into living.

As a husband or wife shouldn't all our strength be invested in cultivating a great marriage. Shouldn't we put everything we have into training our children to serve God in their generation. Shouldn't we come out of bed like a sprinter out of the starting blocks to pursue God day in and day out through prayer and meditation on the Bible. Shouldn't we strive to do the best work we can for the glory of God. Shouldn't we serve the risen Lord with all our might giving our best effort rather than the left overs of our time and energy.

Just as the athlete runs to win we must get the same mentality in living to win. What does win mean? I am coming to learn more and more that what we equate with winning is not always what God equates with winning. We often mistakenly think winning is having larger salaries, job titles, large homes, luxury vehicles and updated wardrobes. A person can obtain all of that and lose at life and with God in eternity. The word win in [I Cor 9:24] actually means "to obtain, seize or to take possession." In a subtle twist the real winner is the person who gets obtained, seized, and taken possession of by Jesus Christ. The goal of Christ for every believer is that He gains control over our minds and wills and governs them. He then empowers us to run to win.

A real winner is the person devoted and yielded to God serving Him with all the passion and effort of a runner in a race. We run to win at life and we run to the finish line.

Recently, I took all the boys to the track and timed each of them running a forty yard dash. When Turner ran for his time he slowed down well before getting to the finish line and jogged rather than sprint. This gave him a slower time. I exhorted him to run past the finish line and to run with all his might. On his second try he obliterated his first time. He ran to win and ran past the finish line. In fact, each of the boys bettered their times as they ran to win past the finish line. All of them ran the fastest times of their lives that day.

God is looking for some runners who will give all they have in the race of life. God is looking for runners who will exert all their strength and strive with all their mights to run and live to win. God is looking for some finishers who will run the race of life to win all the days of their lives. On your mark! Get set! Go! Run to win this day and all the days of your life.