My brother's white blonde head was there somewhere towards the edge of the long line of boys on the starting line... his little, five-year-old, excited face alight with anticipation. The beep gun goes off, and a crowd of knobbly, Grade One knees start dashing with all their might towards the finish line. My brother was pretty speedy, and ended up a close second. Fun footage of a "first athletics carnival"!
But more interesting than the race itself was something my Mum and Dad always commented on when watching it back... Throughout the short race, James kept on glancing sideways - constantly checking the position of the other boys, how they were running, how fast they were, how he compared. And it may well have cost him first place. The advice from my parents? "Good race! But next time, don't keep on looking to the side - it's better to look straight ahead, and just run your own race."
I think that was good advice. And I think, to a certain degree, it's good advice for the Christian life as well. Obviously, we don't run in this life alone... in fact, we run in community. Running alongside one another, spurring each other on, encouraging and challenging and helping one another. But it can be so tempting to keep on glancing sideways and constantly compare ourselves with one another... how much we've grown, our strengths and weaknesses and personalities and how they match up with those of others, how fruitful we perceive our ministries to be, what we've "achieved", how good our relationships are... Anything and everything. Leaving us feeling either smugly superior or dismally hopeless and always falling short.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
We don't run alone. We are surrounded by people, past and present, who tell us of God's faithfulness and spur us onto deeper faith and Christian maturity. Yet, because of their very witness to Jesus, we fix our eyes on Him Alone... letting go of everything that holds us back, and running to him with all our strength and all our focus... whatever our speed, and whatever our "journey" looks like.
But comparison with others is deadly.
It distracts, and puts us in danger of not finishing the race.
Here's the thing. While we're anxiously glancing sideways at the people running beside us, using all our mental, emotional and spiritual energy in analysing how we "measure up", we are no longer looking towards the finish line. We've taken our eyes off Jesus. Our identity, our security, our progress, and our direction is no longer grounded in him. We're drifting. We can get distracted or lost, or trip and fall, never finishing the race. We can't run with joy and confidence, because, as long as other people are our yardstick, we'll never measure up. There's always someone running faster, or with a better style / less effort / a bigger cheersquad... than us. And it can lead us into the deadly valley of discontent, envy and works-based fear.
Our wise and loving God has made each of us unique, with our own gifts, personality and opportunities. We each have our own challenges, sins and struggles. We have our own journey in following Jesus. But we know that he who began a good work in you will bring it completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
Sometimes, it isn't easy to keep your eyes fixed on the finish line. Other people can seem to keep breezing past us, seemingly with minimal effort when we're really struggling... and it can be so tempting to keep glancing sideways, trying to somehow justify to ourselves that we're "doing OK". But we just end up choked by the anxiety of inadequacy.
Let's not play the deadly Comparison Game. Let's train and discipline ourselves to keep looking forward to our precious, loving Lord Jesus. Let's fight for this. I know that I need this, probably more than anyone! I need to look and run towards Jesus with every bit of strength and focus I have. It's going to be hard at times. But it's worth it. I'm absolutely convinced of this. We have incomparable love and treasure in Jesus; through the undeserved grace of God towards us. So, let's run this race together, all fixing our eyes on the finish line... looking to Jesus alone.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:25-27)
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12)
