Hate The Rat Race? Run in The Real Race!

Hate The Rat Race? Run in The Real Race!                            By Kelly Durant

1 Corinthians 9:23-25

24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

2. You have heard that we as humans are compared to rats, that we all are running in the rat race? Have you ever thought about that, whether you agree with that analogy or not? Rats have no scruples and they will trample on top of each other, they pee on each other, they even are known to kill their own babies! Rats are filthy and spread diseases, rats burrow in walls and destroy structures, rats will consume any poison and kill their selves…conclusion: some humans are in a rat race!

Why do people live in society running with such a frenzied competition to show off how great they are? Is it natural to want to compete feverously so much that you’ll practice harsh disciplines for years, such as body builders do, or sports athletes, so you can show off to a few thousand a few minutes of glory? For mega-millions, the world of competition is their livelihood, passion, and destructive obsession.  

I think our world’s societies have fed our animal instincts for competition to the extreme far beyond what is healthy. I have a few friends now that were so competitive when they were young with football that currently, being older, they suffer from old wounds and can hardly walk because their knees (or other bones) are battered in bad shape. Is there an alternative in this world so we can race with people that are not rats?

3. Here is something I conclude about our human condition: we all have a need to feel accomplished at something. We all need to earn a prize for something we’ve sacrificed for. Each person needs to feel good that we can win at something! It is a human desire to want to be valued by someone or at least by a few for what you can do that’s special, right? Do you not agree?

So what can you do if you don’t have the muscle mass and speed to be an athlete? What can you do if you are not so talented at anything? If you can’t sing or dance? What if you can hardly express yourself in front of others, how can you compete in anything in this world? Well, for one, you need to evaluate if what you are dreaming to obtain is even worth competing for!

I can tell you now that billions upon billions of dollars are invested every year on people who compete so they can train and develop an ordinary skill perfecting it into an extraordinary one. But for what? How long does it last? Is it for a high school trophy? Maybe for a 4 year college career?  For hanging a picture for the wall? Why are we spending so much energy and time on satisfying our base human needs when in the end we finish injured, heart-broken, or mad at our-selves or the world because someone else was so much better?

4. Any what about academic competition? Isn’t the intellectual world fierce and frightening! Far too many ignorant people are arrogantly full of pride from their studies which they use to humiliate you and me with by daunting their positions, diplomas, and titles! The scriptures warn us of too much study. Ecclesiastes 12:12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The competitive intellectual types often become fools deceived by too much overload of confusing misinformation to the point they damage their own reasoning cognition.  Proverbs 26:12 “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.” A lot of the illogical and crazy dumb ideas people adhere to today are initiated within the halls of academia where self-refuting philosophies predicate outcomes by self-replication. These hypocrites dictate to others how they should live and think while they exempt themselves.

Here is my example of the higher learning confusion today. I could say to you, “Tall short men are happy”. The tendency of our competitive, I know more that you mentality, is to focus on how happy this person might be or not be. Do you think in general these types of men are happy? Stop! This is not the argument, the argument is predicated on a paradox contradiction, a self-refuting non-existent  predicate as there exists no tall short men in anywhere! Men that are tall (and) short is an oxymoron.  You have one or the other! But in the prideful human mind there is always a twisting of meanings so that a tall short man becomes a creature that can exist, but ignorant ones like you and me, are deniers of this because we lack the educational capacity to accept quantum states of 2 opposite things being able exist at the same time?! Nonsense, right? And these types of argumentative tactics are used to confuse subjects immersed in competitive academia so that moral wrongs can also be right, and therefore possible in someone’s world. But not in our world of truth!

5. My opinion, I for one, do not enjoy competition in the world amongst the rats! It does have its place and keeps some people happy and busy so they avoid getting into some other trouble, but is it worth it? No matter how perfect you get there will always come along some arrogant ignoramus that will show you up and beat you! Often people win by cheating, so what is the point losing to cheaters?

I have good news for you, you do not have to compete in this world’s rat eat rat race, you can drop out! It’s ‘tune in, turn on, and drop out’ time, but doing it for the right reasons! As a Christian our existence is not predicated on how fast we are, on how pretty or handsome we are, on how skilled in sports we are, or on how intelligent we are.  Our race is not against those who want to win a trophy and gloat, our race is one against time to do all we can for Jesus before our life is over!

In the verses of today Paul is challenging all of us to compete in the race to win our rewards in heaven. Our rewards will be evaluated by God on the souls we saved and trained for God’s service. There are a billion Christians in the world to compete against but how many are sincerely looking for a way to make Jesus proud of them for how they dedicatedly compete in the race?

6. If you want to run in a race you must train, right? Some train by running 5 or 10 miles daily, or 4 to 8 hours. Imagine if Christians spent that amount of time on the study of God’s word? The whole world would be ablaze over the Christian furor to spread the good news!

When I was younger I was more competitive than now. I would take pride in how many Bible verses I could memorize, how many people on the street I could get to say the salvation prayer, and how many hours I’d put in each day for Jesus.

But this brings me to another point, the Christian race is not about how much better I am than you, about how I am a more righteous and holier Christian than you, the race is about learning to live disciplined, moderate, and faithful. 2: Cor. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Temperate here means as it says, ‘in all things!’ And not to be extreme to the point of killing yourself for Jesus, temperate means you do to the fullest the calling that God has for you!

7. You, each of you that are real Christians, are called to be in God’s race, and this race is against time to do all you can for Jesus! You and I must go now because He says not to put it off John 4:35 ‘Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.’ Our destined time to live may stop soon. Only God knows when our time is no more so we must prepare and be ready! Look how many people die all the time and people say, ‘Oh he (she) was so young!’ How unexpected! And what did they do for Jesus?

We all have seen overconfident people, those who think they don’t need to train, or do so much for Jesus, because after all they grew up going to church?! But it is not longevity of service that matters as much as what was done that was effective for God’s work. We are in a race for souls and we want to do as much as we can for as many as we can for as long as we can.

It is like the story of the race between the tortoise and the hare. The hare was so fast and so far ahead in the race that he decided to take a long nap in the middle of the race, but the turtle kept on faithfully and slowly until what? You know the answer, the tortoise won! We have to race until we die! Revelation 2:10 (b) ‘Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.’

8. When we get to heaven some amazing wins will be revealed of little known faithful people that we never imaged! The repentant drug dealer or prostitute might have had so much passion for souls for Jesus and ran the race so well that they out shine the many others who ran too slow or with too much confidence. To race does not mean to stand still watching others run! Never live unchallenged comfortably at church as some do for decades producing no fruit or a win for Jesus.

Salvation is for all who receive Jesus but the rewards at the end of race are distinct for what you do. Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. So some shine brighter than others, so let’s invest in eternity!

So get in the Christian race! The trophy you will win will not rust and then get donated to the thrift store after you die! It will be a prize that will last forever in a new heavenly world, in a new shining heavenly body.

9. In closing here is a very convicting verse. Hebrews 12:1 ‘Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,’ This verse implies that all the angels in heaven are watching you and me run. But in order to win you and I have to give up that which is holding us back (our sins) and be persistent, training with patience. And in a race, it is alright if you fall down, alright to get thirsty and exhausted and take a water (of the word) break when needed, and alright to need others healing your cuts and scrapes!

2 ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ Wow! If Jesus did that much, then we too should ‘lay down our lives for the brethren’. What a winner He was, what an example!

If you do not know how to train or how to race, then you are in the right place to learn! That’s what all this modus operandi of church is all about, to train disciples who can train more disciples. So jump into God’s race and forget the world’s races with all the vain arrogant boasters! You will never regret it and you will gain eternal life and rewards in heaven!