You vs You: a race against yourself

This life will always be You vs. You.

It will always be your old self vs. your new self.

And you will always be #1. You will always be the winner.

When someone who is running a race, it’s never to be better there than the other person. It’s never to beat the other person. It’s always to beat his personal record. It’s always to improve and be better than he was in the previous races.

When a basketball or football player wants to improve, they never study their opponent more than they study themselves. They look for their own weaknesses, their strengths, their setbacks, their come ups, mistakes, or shortcomings. They’re always looking for ways to improve and beat their personal record. And their coach is there by their side leading them, motivating them, and encouraging them.

That’s how it is in this life. We’re called to overcome our old selves; our flesh and God is like our coach. He always speaks life. He always encourages us. His thoughts towards us are peace, yes and amen. He has a plan for you and it’s always to prosper you and to give you hope. He never wants you to lack because He gave us His Son and His Son has come to give us life and life more abundantly. He wants us to be plentiful and have more than enough. In Christ we are whole, complete, and lacking no-good thing.

We can’t associate ourselves with people on the sideline, they’ll start to become a distraction. We must invest into ourselves, our spirit man.

When a runner is running a race it’s him focusing on the finish line and closing his ears to the crowd.

He’s not focused on the sideline. He’s not focused on the naysayers. He’s not focused on the people who told him he can’t do it or it’s impossible to achieve. He’s focused on putting in the work. He’s investing his time, energy, money, sweat and tears in exchange for victory. He makes sure he’s speaking life over himself. He’s placing himself around a team who is going to support him and lift him up. Even if those he loves isn’t with him, he goes and finds those who is or becomes that person not only to himself but to those who need help around him.

And that’s how our walk with Christ should be. Gods promises His prosperity, and plans shouldn’t be worn as a merit badge we have to invest in Him and His word. We have to listen and be obedient to Him. We shouldn’t just hear His words, but we also have to do His word. We have to constantly speak His word over ourselves. We have to constantly remind ourselves of who He says we are. We have to constantly draw near to him and seek His face, praise Him, worship Him and love Him just like He loves us. We also have a family of believers we can fellowship with who will encourage us, correct us, and laugh with us.

There’s a finish line we have to cross. A personal record we have to beat.

We’re leaving behind the old self and that old life, crossing the finish line, and gaining Christ. He is the prize. When we gain Christ, we have everything. And it’s in Him we are victorious. Because where God is there is life not death. There’s never doubt from God but always faith, never “you could if you just…” but always “yes you can”. God isn’t saying “ehhh I doubt you can do it”. He’s saying, “I know you can do it because I created you to do it. I chose you to do it.”  There are people who God has placed in your life, and you can find that in them as well. Those are the ones who are for you. God helps us through people. He is always there. They are not God, but God has placed them into your life to uplift you as well as he has placed you in someone’s life to uplift them. It’s the cycle of Life.

The runner doesn’t discourage himself just because people discourage him or doubt him. He puts his faith in the One who says he can achieve all things through Christ. For all things are possible with God, nothing is impossible with Him. In spite of the people discouraging us making us doubt ourselves they aren’t our main concern. Focusing on our haters isn’t a flex. God says we will have them but they aren’t the main focus, we are to pray for them and bless them. They shouldn’t be the main reason we do what we are being led to do, Christ should be. Our faith belongs to the One who has done everything for us. You can do all things through Christ Who strengthens you.

God didn’t say some things are possible or everything except that one thing. He said all things are when it comes to living a life for Him. Nothing is impossible with God. No lifestyle, no situation, no problem is too hard for God to handle.

As a forerunner for Christ, we should be doing everything we can now because when the day of the race comes we’ll be prepared. Everyday, just like the track runner we should be prepared to win and lose. We should be prepared to get first, last, or third. We should be prepared to hurt ourselves, and go through pain, because certain things happen in life. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world, and that’s okay because again our hope is in Christ. One day there will be no more pain, suffering, chaos, hatred, or wickedness.

Even though a runner may not get first the most important thing is he’s confident in himself because he knows the effort and work he put in to achieve his goal. He’s not focused on proving anybody wrong because no one put in the work like he did. No one knows what it takes to be in his shoes.

He knows that if he doesn’t win of course there are going to be people talking about him but he’s also a man of the future. The runner knows his mistakes and failures are only used to strengthen him over time and eventually he will get better. He knows that what he’s sowing now, he may not get the results he’s looking for immediately but that’s where hope comes in. That at the right time he will reap a harvest.

For us we are children of faith and Christ is our future, we’re able to be confident in our future because God already has ordered our steps. As a forerunner we have to know that, with us putting away our old self and denying our flesh, we may not get the results we’re looking for. We may not instantly be perfect, instead we may fail or fall again but, we have to get back up and put our hope in Christ and what He’s already done for us. We have to be confident, firm and secure in our anchor of hope.

Going back to the track runner:

The day of his race is now and he’s ready. He’s focused on his main goal: getting to that finish line. For him he knows it’s not a race against others and it’s not a competition to be better than any other racer. He’s a wise man and knows the only race is against himself. To be better than he was the first time.

And that’s what we’re called to do in our walk with Christ in this race.

On your mark. Get set. Go!