1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
Hebrews 12:1
There is a race set before you. So many believers are running another person’s race. Can you imagine Kanu Nwankwo attempting to win at Tiger Woods’ game? Your victory is only assured in the race that is set before you.
I remember some years after my husband and I had successfully started our young fledgling company; I had answered the call into full-time ministry and my husband had “sacrificed” me to God by letting me go. I was not just the madam of the CEO, I was a fully trained engineer and played a crucial role in the company we began together. Our lives were (and still are) a series of sacrifices for the vision that we could see. Then one day, many years later, he ran into an old friend. After a few minutes of chatting, the old friend found out that my husband still drove a Tokunbo (second hand) jeep and that we still lived in a rented house. He looked at him with a look of disdain and said, “Emeka, I thought you would have gone further than this by now.” My husband smiled confidently and said, “We are not running the same race.” Now that was a “word from above”
Working with Pastor Charles in The Carpenter’s Church (then Royal Evangel Church), we often faced the same pressure. Church members and also minister friends pressured us to do things “the way it ought to be done.” In The Carpenter’s Church, we don’t strive to be different; we strive to run the race that God has set before us. If in running that race, we are different, then so be it. In over two decades, our God-ordained uniqueness remains our strength.
Friend, run the race set before you. That is the race that you have been equipped for and that is the race you will excel at.
Confession:
I am special in the eyes of God. There is no one like me. I have a unique purpose. I have a unique race. I will run that race with my eyes on nothing else but the prize.