We have watched the gold medal performances, the fantastic finishes, and the golden smiles again and again on TV. But there is a flip side to joy when the dreams disappear.

Olympian Kikkan Randall, who fell short of the podium by five-hundredths of a second, said in 2014, “It’s tough. That’s sport, right? You try your whole life for something like this and it’s over in 2 ½ minutes.”

Hours earlier, Kikkan’s mother said, “This is what she has worked for all her life. But you never know in sport, do you?”

No, you don’t know in sports—or in business, acting, or any other pursuit in life. But in whichever course that you find yourself, you can live for Jesus and receive the ultimate prize.

That’s the race that gives the greatest rewards because it’s based only on your love for Christ and your faithfulness to Him.

Our heavenly Father alone will determine what my prize looks like because He alone knows the intent of my heart. My obedience to Him will not be compared to any other believer’s obedience.

God alone knows what He has given me and asks of me, and He alone knows when I have truly lived for His sake and when I have lived for my own.

I’m not racing against any other person. It’s the fight of my heart to choose Christ’s ways in the everyday, mundane things and seek His glory and honor.

We all have different gifts, talents, physical abilities, and mental capacities. This means we have to stop comparing ourselves to one another because we each have a unique call and mission for our lives.

Your greatest purpose is to train your heart to live for Christ under His authority and for His glory. Whether you’re a CEO or a landscaper, God’s call is for you to follow Jesus and be faithful in the fight He calls you to. 

“I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 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 Corinthians 9:23-24

The goal is eternity. The race is how I live my life and where I run it. The prize is God’s glory and a life in His presence forever.

God alone has all the data, and God alone sees the reasons I do what I do. Run with grace and enthusiasm, brothers and sisters, because the prize is worth it. 

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