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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion February 6, 2006 That’s No Way to Run a Race |
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FRONTLINE DEVOTION FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2006 by Fritz Foltz
We all know something about sport. It is a high priority in our society. Athletes train and train and train, because they want to win. Few can play more than one sport any more, because they must train year round for the one in which they are best. All that is important is winning and the rewards that go with it. If our team cannot make the playoffs, it might as well forfeit the rest of its games.
Even those playing team sports train and train and train, so that they might be the best on the team and reap the rewards that go with that. If they are good enough, they move on to the next level until they are finally drafted into the pros. Everyone wants to be a star.
Sports are hardly play or games anymore. Too much is involved with winning, reward, and even money.
Having acknowledged all this, we can hardly believe Paul. He tells us to look at our religion as if we were running a race. We are to train and train and train even though we know this is not a race in which there is one winner. We are to train as if there will only be one winner, but we know all the runners get the same reward.
That’s not way to run a race. Like the workers in the vineyard we think that is unfair.
If we work harder than others, we should receive more than they do. We don’t want to train hard and to run hard, if all the participants are going to receive the same reward. We don’t want to think that Christianity is one of those boring, noncompetitive games.
But that is the way it is. Christianity is not about beating out others. Rather it is to be so thankful for God’s salvation and his promise of a just society that we want to do well in a way that convinces other people that the common prize is worth pursuing.
This is terribly important for our society to understand. Life is not a reality show where the winner takes all. In reality shows the only goal is my winning. I might form alliances, play team sports, if that will help me along the way. But in the end I am ready to betray the trust in those alliances, if it means I will win the prize.
Not so in Christianity. In many ways nobody wins unless everybody wins. And we train and train and train so that wonderful kind of society might come.
Make sure you work hard on your faith today. Don’t do it so that you might be assured a place around God’s table. God promises that already. Do it so that those you love might share the table and all it offers with you.
Let us pray: Give us the vision to pursue the prize, Father. Give us a vision of the just society where everyone gets a fair share, so we might work with you in inviting and preparing others to share the prize with us. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
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