Monday 20 Feb 2012

Monday Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 9:24
24  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

Devotion:
I will always remember the first race that I saw a college at school run because it was more of a revelation to everyone than a race! The team was short of a runner for the 200m race and so they picked on the guy who was sitting quietly reading his book to fill in the gap. Once they had persuaded him and the race was under way, the rest ‘is history’ as they say. This young man ran straight past all of the top runners that were lined up for that race and finished first by quite a distance – he was a natural born runner!

We are in the race of life. It is sometimes a race that we would rather not be in and it is sometimes a race that we enjoy; but we are in this race and we are in it was a whole lot of other people. Why is it a race? Because we have to get to the end in order to receive our prize. Does this mean that we have to be the first, biggest, smallest, quickest, slowest or whatever? Well that is left up to each of you and what God has given you as a gift. My college had been given the gift of being able to run faster than anyone in our school, but he would also read more books than anyone else as well! When we strive to be the best at some things we will find that we are not necessarily the best at what we choose because that may not be where God wants us to be; instead we need to find out that path that God has laid down for each of us.

When we strive to do earthly things, all we will obtain in the end is earthly prizes for those things. When we strive to do the things of God, then we can expect to receive blessing from God instead. If we go out to be ‘one of the lads’ then we should not expect to be treated any differently than ‘one of the lads’ because when we land up in trouble we have nobody else to blame but ourselves – we chose that path and we have to live up to the consequences! God does not want us to lead a life of sin and shame. God does not want us to live our life with our heads buried in the sand. Instead He wants us to see the world for what it is and to take full grasp of everything that He gives us in our lives.

Sometimes we are going to be surprised at what does come our way and we may well start to think twice about what it is that we should be doing. When we are faced with those questions or decisions in our life we need to make sure that we have God by our side to guide us in our decision making so that we do turn the right ways for Him!

Points to Ponder:
So you think you are good…

Have you consulted God to see if you are?