To my reader,
This past week at a diner, something on the table caught my eye. An ant was crawling across the table in my direction. I decided in my boy-ish mind to play with the ant. Let me explain that when I say I played with ant, I do not mean with a magnifying glass or by hurting it. I simply tested its determination.
I did this several ways. First by placing a wrapper in its path. The ant proceeded to crawl over it, continuing towards me. I then placed a spoon and knife in its path. He crawled over them as well. The next thing I proceeded to do was place both my index fingers six inches on either side of it. I began to tap each finger in the hopes of seeing if it would distract or cause the ant’s course to detour.
I’m sure you’re starting to think I’m cruel, but let me remind you I never hurt the ant in any way. The results of this blew me away.
You see, the ant stopped as my fingers tapped on the table. It started to look around and then it continued onward heading straight for me. The ant was focused. Nothing was going to come between it and its prize.
That’s what I call determination.
There is a letter in the New Testament written to a group of Christian Hebrews. The author writes,
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2, NLT.
We all run a race. Some people have different names for it, but I like to call it life. This race isn’t a sprint but a marathon. Anyone who has run a marathon will tell you that it isn’t easy. We get easily discouraged when we instantly run the marathon or we trip up along the way.
No person who has just learned how to walk can run a marathon. You start with baby steps and continually keep moving forward until you are running the race.
The truth is a race isn’t run in a day, but in all the days leading up to it.
When I run into any kind of a small hang-up, I take it as a sign to quit. We cannot give up so easily. If something get’s in our way, we must climb over it. When something goes wrong, we adjust and keep moving forward.
Run with your eyes focused on Jesus. As we run this race with our eyes on him, something beautiful happens. We start to leave things behind. We become focused only on him. If we are focused on the past and everything behind us we will trip up on whatever comes our way. We can’t carry our junk with us on this race. We must let it go.
Turn your eyes on Jesus and run the race He has called you too with everything you have. When you trip up and fall, get up, brush yourself off, and start running again. Never give up the race before you.
Simply,
Tex G.M. Rule
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." Hebrews 12:1, NLT
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