Maintain your pace

When I was driving recently, I noticed I was the only one on the road – or at least that’s what it seemed like. By the time I stopped at traffic light, there were so many other cars around me - as usual, the Holy Spirit stepped in and converted this to a teachable moment - simply put, He said:

Face your race

Maintain your pace

I'm sure you have heard so many times that life is a race. Interestingly, it is as much a sprint as it is a marathon. We must all remain focussed on our individual races - what people around you are doing could impact you but must not distract you from your race. Despite the fact that there were more cars around me at the traffic light, it was no reason to change my destination and follow them to theirs when the light changed to green. Unfortunately, some people get distracted and derailed from their destination (& purpose in God) because of what is happening around them. Let's take this to another level...

Sometimes when you stop at a red light, the people on the other side will likely have a green light. You cannot decide to move forward on another person's green light; if you do, you are likely to have an accident or other unpleasant consequences. It is exactly the same in the spitirual. Much as you may want it to be, life is not filled with green lights. Can you just imagine having to be on the go every moment and day of your lives. Exhaustion and possibly frustration is sure to set in - not to mention being burned out.

While running your race there may be times when you may be moving faster than God intends for you to or even going fast in the wrong direction. The worst thing ever is to be moving faster than God - in facing our race, we must maintain our pace and always be in step with God. To remain in step with God, we need to be alert to when the light changes from green to amber to red and of course the other way around. Jeremiah said: "I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps."* We don't know enough about our future to direct ourselves there.

At every stage of the race, some people may catch up with you, overtake you or even be stalled at the red or even amber light - cars and people do breakdown sometimes from no fault of their own or because they failed to do something e.g. buy fuel/gas or change their engine oil or rest their bodies.

Life filled with traffic lights - it is up to us to know and understand what God expects of when our light (not your neighbour's) is red, amber or green. All I can advise as we get ready to step into the last quarter of this year is:

Face your race

Maintain your pace

Reference
*Jer 10:23 (NIV)