Competing In Life
Picture the sky on the fourth
of July. It is magnificent to watch the
fireworks display. The combination of
colors, shapes, and explosions fill the night with brilliance and awe. What an experience!
Some years ago as the Olympic
Games were held, I had the opportunity to watch the women’s triathalon. In case your not familiar with a triathalon,
it is a most grueling race. It starts
with each of the participants swimming 1500 meters, then they bike 40
kilometers, and run the last 10 kilometers.
The race started with one of the women jumping out to a big lead in the
swimming event. She was looking pretty
strong as she headed into the biking event.
However, over time she was overtaken in the biking and running events
finishing in 7th or 8th place. The woman who won maintained her focus and
paced herself to claim the victory.
The Race Before Us
Athletics provide tremendous
insight into God’s design for the Christian life. On multiple occasions in the New Testament,
illustrations using sport are used to teach principles about living the
Christ-centered life.
The way people approach
athletic competition provides insight as to how people try to live out their
Christian faith. Some take off quickly
but never learn how to maintain their focus for the long haul. They are like fireworks which display
brilliance but once they’ve been used they no longer return to their former
glory. Others carry the title of an athlete but never learn to compete. Still others develop their roots and compete
similar to the way a triathlete does in finishing the grueling competition.
Jesus tells an interesting
story in Matthew chapter 13. A farmer
goes out and sows seed. Some falls on
good ground, some falls on rocky soil, some falls among thorns, and some falls
along the path.
Each soil produces a
different result. Why is that? What is the difference between the production
on the different soils? If we relate
this back to the area of sport, I would suggest that there are three
significant factors - training, perseverence, and focus.
In Jesus’ story, he
illustrates how people relate to God by comparing them to seed that a farmer
plants. As the farmer scatters the seed,
it lands in several different places which produce different results. Each soil is unique in how it allows the seed
to produce. Everyone’s life can be
represented by one of these soils.
There is the seed that falls
on the path and before it has a chance to grow, the evil one snatches it
away. This person sees the goal but
realizes what it will cost them to train to be competitive and quickly decides
not to join in the race. It is easier to
be a spectator or to ignore the race altogether. This person never experiences the joy and
exhilaration of the competition.
Once an athlete enters the
arena of competition, he/she needs to commit to training. This would include a wide variety of
activities aimed at producing the best results.
Obviously, for a triathlete, it would include swimming, biking, and
running plus other training tools such as lifting weights. Let’s suppose a triathlete trained only by
running. How would that athlete perform
in the other two events? Probably that
athlete would not finish among the leaders.
So it is with our Christian faith, we need to train to be effective in
all areas of our lives in order to achieve God’s purpose in our lives.
I was fortunate to play
soccer through college and I found that coaching soccer was a thrill for me as
well. When my girls were old enough to
play, I volunteered to coach them. One
season, we had a talented team with tremendous potential. During one season there was a girl, Kristen,
who had wonderful raw talent. She was
the one that I thought could be the team leader and be unstoppable.
She was involved in other
activities as well during the season and had a difficult time making practices
during the season. As a result, though
she was very gifted, I couldn’t get her to do the right things on the field in
order to best help the team. Kristen’s
focus was divided in too many directions.
Our team lost only two games that season, each by one goal. If Kristen had been focused, we may have gone
undefeated and won our district tournament.
Let’s go back to the farmer. Some of his seed fell on rocky soil which
grew up quickly but didn’t last because no roots developed. A person can have no roots as well. They get excited by the competition but won’t
commit to the training that is necessary to be prepared for competition. Hence, they fall apart in the middle of
competition. The Christ-centered life
requires training as well. Reading the
Bible is God’s way of communicating with us and prayer is our way of
communicating with God. These two things
are core to building a relationship with God.
Church is another important way that we can develop relationships with
others who are pursuing a Christ-centered life.
These relationships are crucial to helping encourage our devotion to
spiritual training and development.
There is also the seed that
falls in the thorns. This seed produces
roots but the thorns of life choke it out so that it withers and dies. These people lack perseverance. When things get tough, they stop and try to
get comfortable again. They never
experience the exhilaration of pushing through the fatigue and pain to a new
level of living. These people often
expect God to make life easier for them and when times get tough, they
bail. Often God brings difficulty to
strengthen our training and produce deeper character in our lives so that when
we are in the midst of competition, we are able to persevere and experience the
full exhilaration of the Christ-centered life.
Perseverance is essential to competition. It allows an athlete to push through normal
limits of fatigue and pain in order to accomplish significant feats. Most other people are not willing to make
that kind of sacrifice because they are content to live in their comfort zone. When the athlete learns how to persevere
beyond what he/she thought was possible, he/she finds a reward that is
indescribable.
This seed that falls on the
good soil would be similar to the athlete who is highly competitive. It is noteworthy that the crop varies in its
fruitfulness. Each seed produces at a
different level of ability. Some return
30 times what was sown and others 100 times.
The good soil is where the seed produces a harvest yet not every seed
produces the same crop. What is the difference? I maintain that it is focus. The intensity of an athlete’s focus directly
impacts his/her performance. Sporadic
focus creates sporadic results.
Intensity in focus changes the production of the crop.
Focus is often the difference between winning and losing in
any sport. Focus is what keeps you
moving toward your goal and provides the intensity with which you will pursue
your goal. Your focus is critical
through the mentally challenging times.
As an athlete, the pressures and intensity of competition tempt you to
change your game plan. The emotion of
the moment often leads to mental errors in the midst of competition. Sometimes an adjustment is necessary but
often it is more wise to stick with the original gameplan. Focus is the mental edge which allows an
athlete to make those decisions wisely and not out of the emotions of the
moment.
This gives us a broad
perspective of how people respond to God.
By now, you should be assessing where you fall into that mix. Wherever you see yourself is not
important. The question is, “Where do
you want to be?” God wants to make you a
person that returns 100 times what was sown.
Your Environment
Maybe you’re not convinced
that God can do that. Your situation is
unique and provides too many barriers to being what God intended for you. My guess is that you fall in one of the
following categories of people and I will attempt to address issues and
concerns that you may be facing.
However, you need to understand that even though your situation is
different from others reading this, the principles for achieving God’s best in
your life are the same for everyone.
Let me begin with the people
that will have the hardest time understanding that they have a need for the
material and principles contained in this book.
That group would be 2nd or 3rd generation
Christians. In other words, those who
have grown up in a home with Christian parents.
If you are in this group, you need to listen carefully. I grew up in this situation.
There are several things that
you need to consider. First, you
probably feel like you’re a pretty good kid and you probably are. You haven’t done any really bad things, you
go to church with your parents, and you try to do the right things most of the
time. You maybe don’t even feel like you
need a savior because you’re doing pretty good.
Galatians 5:19-21 says this:
“The
acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and
debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage,
selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the
like. I warn you, as I did before, that
those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Isn’t it interesting that God
places things like envy, anger, and selfishness in the same column as sexual
immorality and idolatry. I’m sure we
could probably add murder to that list as well.
In God’s eyes, it’s all the same.
The only difference is the consequences.
We tend to confuse consequences with how good or bad our sin is.
No matter who you are, you
need a savior as desperately as the next person. Maybe your parents or your grandparents
became Christians later on in life. For
them, it was life changing. They knew a
different way of life and remember how God had changed them. If you’ve grown up in a Christian home, you
probably don’t have a frame of reference to what your life could have been to
this point. Look again at the verses
above. Visualize what your life is
without God in it. Express your
gratitude to God for what He has done for you.
Last, you have a need to
define your faith for yourself. You can
not live off of the faith of your parents or grandparents. You need to develop your own walk with God
separate from them. Your standing with
God has nothing to do with them. It’s
between you and God. That doesn’t mean
you shouldn’t ask them for help, guidance, and direction. God has placed them there as a resource for
you to aid in your relationship with Him.
Next, let me address those of
you who have parents that live two lives.
They present one image at church and another image during the rest of
the week. You may see their Christianity
as fake. You may even be tempted to
reject Christ because they are hypocritical in your eyes. If this is your thinking, you should
reconsider.
If a police officer were to
arrest you for drinking a Pepsi, would you believe that the whole law was
bad? Of course not, there are not laws
against drinking a Pepsi. The police
officer disregarded the law by arresting you and so tarnished the image of the
law. In the same way, when Christians
misrepresent God to others, they tarnish God’s image. The problem is not with God. It is with those who misrepresent Him.
There is another group that
you may be a part of. You did not grow
up in a Christian home but through a series of events God made himself known to
you. Your parents may be indifferent
toward God and your faith or they may reject Him altogether and be antagonistic
toward your faith. Whatever your
situation, God has given you a unique gift.
Unlike those of us who grew up in a Christian home, you have an
experience to remind you how much different life is with God.
You may also have grown up in
a situation where you were missing one or both parents. If this is the case, you probably feel that
loss often and may wish that you were not in that situation. It is important to note that God has a
special place in His heart for you and desires that you look to Him in order to
fill that void.
Likely, you fall into one of
the above categories. However, there is
one group that needs to be addressed before moving on. You may have grown up in one of the preceding
situations but you chose a path that you are not proud of. You may have gotten involved in things that
you knew were wrong and destructive but you went ahead and did them
anyway. You need to understand that God
is in the business of making good things out of bad. There is no sin that can keep you away from
God’s plan for your life. Romans chapter
8 provides some good help. Find some
time and read through it.
God has a purpose for you and
wants you to be in a relationship with Him.
He doesn’t care about your past mistakes. He wants to build your future with hope. God loves you more than you can imagine. He can take the mistakes of the past and use
them for good in the future. Don’t
underestimate what God can do in your life and through your life. There is nothing too hard for Him.
God has created each of us
uniquely and has an incredible design for our lives. No two people are alike in their giftings and
experiences. God is calling each of us
to the arena of competition. The race is
before us. The spectators are gathering
and the questions are before you. Will
you run? Will you train? Will you persevere? How focused will you be?
The Apostle Paul finished
well and his words are recorded in II Timothy 4:7-8:
“I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to
all who have longed for his appearing.”
Take Time and Make It
Personal