Run the Race - Ignore the Hecklers!
7/11/2018


1 Corinthians 9:24-27: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.


During the 1990's in an NCAA Division II national championship cross-country race in California, a bizarre twist of events took place. Mike Delcavo and 127 of the best runners in the country were battling for glory over the 10,000- meter course. About three miles into the race, Delvaco was somewhere in the middle of the pack, when he realized that the runners had made a wrong turn. So he yelled out, "You're going the wrong way," but they didn't listen. Only 4 others followed Mike, he found himself in the lead.

However, that lasted only about a mile. The group who went the wrong way, actually shaved about a half-mile off of the course, and were in the lead. The final blow came when, because so many of the runners had gone the wrong way, the officials changed the official route to accommodate their error. So, when Mike Delcavo finally crossed the finish line, he was number 103.

 

At the end of the race, some of Delcavo's competitors thought it was funny that he went the right way.

 

In our mixed up world, when everybody is wrong, then wrong becomes right. However, in the world to come there is only one Judge and He will not change the correct course, regardless of how many or how few actually run it. His reward will be based on our having stayed the true course.

 

It's easy to follow the crowd. But it takes courage and conviction to follow wholeheartedly after God. Sometimes it can get lonely running your race, wondering where the crowd is going, and even whether you, yourself are on the right road. But you my friend, keep running with the Lord. And when the race is over and you have finished your course, may the Lord say to you, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant!"

 

 

by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions






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