Philippians 3:14 “I press on towards the goal to win the prize, for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Paul knew exactly what he was aiming at in life, living every day with a focus and sense of purpose that motivated and guided his every action. How about us?
In greyhound racing, the dogs are trained to chase after a mechanical rabbit, which is controlled by a man in the press box. He keeps the rabbit just in front of the dogs so that they keep chasing it as fast as they can. During one race at a Florida track, as the dogs hurtled after the rabbit, there was an electrical short circuit in the system. The rabbit came to a halt, exploded, and its few remains lay there in flames attached to the wire. This totally confused the dogs. Two of them broke several ribs as they careered into a wall. One began chasing his tail. Others howled at the spectators in the stand, and the rest just stopped running, lay down on the track and rested.
Not one of them finished the race.
So many people are chasing an illusion – a mechanical rabbit of some sort – which they think is real. It seems to provide a sense of purpose, a goal to strive for, a reason to live. Sometimes it takes the wake-up call of our mechanical rabbit going up in smoke to recognise we were chasing after the wrong thing all that time. Many of our friends continue in their frenzied pursuit of their own illusion of choice. May we model to them another way.
I want to finish my race. Do you? What is your focus? Is it a mechanical rabbit that is going to go up in smoke? As Paul writes elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 9:24-26, “Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training… Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly.” Let’s join him in the race!
Lord, I choose to fix my eyes on you and run with a sense of focus, discipline and purpose today. Amen!
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