Last night, we watched the finale of one of my favorite reality TV shows, The Amazing Race. In case you've never seen it before, it's a giant scavenger hunt in which contestants race and compete in games in various countries around the world. I enjoy seeing all the different countries that they travel to as well as the intense competition that arises. The players never know what the next clue would tell them to do. For instance, one challenge required one member of the team to unroll tons of giant hay bales in order to find one small flag in order to get their next clue. Some challenges were physical and some mental. It's also interesting to watch the teamwork and cooperation that was required of each team. The teams that couldn't work together really struggled to do well in the race.
One of my friends on Facebook, jokingly mentioned that The Amazing Race sounds like a show about the Christian life. I was thinking today about how that really is a true comparison. Paul does compare our spiritual journey to a race. We have to press toward that finish line. However, we will never know what challenges or surprises may be along the way. We must "work well" with our fellow teammates in order to do well in the race. The contestants on the TV show win $1,000,000 if they are the first ones to the finish line. In the Christian race, however, it's not just the first person that wins an awesome prize. We have eternal life in Heaven with our Creator as our final prize!
If you are struggling in your race today, take a little time to remember what you are racing for!
Remember Paul's words in Philippians 4:12-14:
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.