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. (1 Cr 9:24)Our March poster boy for God ran a critical race one day that forever determined the fate of his relationship with his biological father. He was running to win his dad's attention. He was running to win his dad's love. But on the fateful day when our poster boy won a very important race for his school, his dad wasn't there ~ just as he had promised but missed so many times before. You see his dad was attentive to a very powerful mistress ~ alcohol. And so on this day, our poster boy decided that he would never again let his father disappoint him. He would never again seek out his father's love or attention. He would just not care any more.
Our poster boy won a trophy for his school that day, and he continues to run. But now he is reaching for a far greater prize. While his earthly father had failed him, he knows that His heavenly Father will not. It has taken time and endurance to stay in the race, to embrace an unconditional love that is far greater than any man's, to repeatedly visit the hurt and let it go again. It has taken time to accept that he is even worthy of such love and attention. But he endures because our poster boy knows that the race God set before him and the prize at the end is worth striving for. He endures because he has a heavenly Father who is standing at the finish line lovingly and boisterously cheering him on.
Therefore...let us throw off everything that hinders us...and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hbr 12:1)
No comments:
Post a Comment