Purpose

Defining the Race

Some people I know like to make comparisons (and predictions) about the trajectory God has for them:

  • “My mom had her kids by 30, so will I.”
  • “By the time that person was my age, they were already a vice president.”
  • “25 is the perfect age to get married, because that’s when all my friends did.”

It’s an intriguing thought process because we tend to be rather limited in what we compare. We pick one specific area and think that is the defining thing that determines how our life should also look. We rarely also want to take on the other person’s pains, trials, and inconveniences that may have led them to the point that they are at. We just want the outcome. And we judge the “quality” of our life, by the milestones that they’ve achieved.

However, our God is creative, and the same God who designs an unique sunset for every day, has a unique design for each of His children’s life. The overarching desire may be the same – that people would come to know and serve Him  – but the path that He prepares for us is as different as the snowflakes that fall from the sky. What He designs, what He engineers for one’s person’s life, is rarely the same as what He has planned for another.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to us if we are a student of Scripture. After all, the way that God uses Moses, is very different from the way He used Joseph. The former He called away from prestige, the other He called to it. He called Hosea to marry a prostitute to demonstrate His love for His people; He called Isaiah to walk around naked to demonstrate the shame His people would experience for abandoning Him. Peter He called to the Jews, Paul to the Gentiles. Each was used by God, each in His own way.

So we have to ask ourselves, when we feel like we’re running behind – like other people have gotten ahead of us in life –  whose race are we running?

Are we trying to run their race or are we running the one that God has set out for us?

And what are we running towards?

The prize that they’ve achieved or the one that God has in store for us?

Because if we aren’t careful, we’ll find that we weren’t running after God at all, but just the good things that He provided, the things that He graciously gave to someone else.

And we’ll miss the race He’s marked for us.

 

Are you ever tempted to run somebody else’s race? What encourages you to keep running the race that God has designed for you?

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Purpose

Burn the Nets

We’ve probably all heard the old tale of how monkeys are caught. Some glittering object is put into a trap and the monkey grabs it. The trap is made in such a way that all the monkey has to do is let go of the glittery possession and they can escape, but they don’t. They would rather hold on to the thing that will end up being the impetus for their demise.

I have no idea if this works in actuality. A quick Google search wasn’t definitive. However, the reason it has probably gained such traction is that we all struggle with letting go. We are prone to cling to things – whether it’s an old relationship, a favorite toy, or our high school yearbooks. We hold on to what we have, afraid that what we might get in return won’t be worth it.

Peter seems to have had this problem. He leaves the fishing business in order to follow Jesus (Mt. 4:18-22), but upon Jesus’ crucifixion he goes right back to the boats (Jn. 21:1-3). He had said he left everything to follow Him, but it was in word only. When things got tough he went back to what was known, what was comfortable. He went back to the past, because he was afraid of what the future would hold.

And to me, it seems the problem is that the nets were waiting for his return. He still hung on to his old life, even when he was living in the new. He hadn’t abandoned his old self; he had just set it aside for a bit.

What he needed to do was to burn the nets; to incinerate any trappings of his former life. To trust in the One that he declared  was the Messiah – resting in the assurance that just as he had taken care of Peter’s past, so He would the future.

Looking back, it’s easy for us to see this, because we know the end of the story. We know that Jesus would go to Peter, prepare a meal, and would mend the fences that were broken by Peter’s denial. Much in the same way we know that at the end of our lives everything we’ve let go of won’t compare to the glory that God’s prepared. But Peter didn’t have that perspective. He just knew that he was alone, and that he had abandoned the One who loved him the most. So his shame and confusion prompted him to return.

But he wouldn’t have had that option…if only he had burned the nets.

 

Please share your thoughts…how have you let go of the past in order to prepare for the future God has called you to?

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