Your race


Many times while I’m alone I ponder where I am and where am I headed in life. It is sometimes a challenge because there are so many voices around, and many “benchmarks” that are available. So many bloggers, writers, preachers, politicians, professionals and in the end everyone has a different opinion about almost everything. At times, it is just overwhelming to reach a definitive conclusion of where should my steps go. Have you felt the same? When there is uncertainty of what to do next. That uncertainty is so powerful some times that it becomes paralyzing.

Making decisions is basically what we do every single day. We either get good at it or someone else does it for us and we reap the consequences of the decisions made for us. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel comfortable by being controlled by someone else’s decisions. Just think for example about all of the laws that have been enacted by our elected officials, (yes, you and I or someone else voted for them to do so, but that is besides the point) that when you read them you say, “What were they thinking?”, or what about the policies that have been “thought up” by your boss that seem to make no sense at all and creates more work for you? We all have experiences of decisions that have been made that affect us. I know, there are bigger reasons we have laws and rules in place, but the fact remains that because of them we are required to make decisions every day.

Every day, every decision, big or small is important. Many are simple but other are life altering. It’s all connected no matter how simple it seems, so you want to get good at it. Recently I read in the book of numbers an interesting story about Joshua. He was being handed the leadership of the people of Israel and these were the instructions: “He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.” Talk about precise instructions! Wouldn’t that be just a perfect arrangement? Yes I know, it feels a little controlling, but in the end if was the best for the people of Israel.

For me today, I seek the exact relationship with God, but not through a third party, a prophet, a priest or a pastor, but by delving into God’s word. The precise instructions of how to live and finish well in life, are written in it. And the more we seek, the wiser we get. The problem with our times is that we want immediacy. Flip a switch, touch a button, click a link, you get the point, and we forget that just as our bodies take time to develop, the same is true for our character. It’s a process, but if we do not seek to get good at making decisions that can alter our lives and those around us, someone else will do it for us. The sad part of this is that, unlike the people of Israel that were being directed by God himself, you will have no one else to blame but yourself for the decisions made by someone else for you. When you don’t decide, you are actually deciding.

Take courage and find your path in life. You might have been avoiding it just because it was easy to read someone else’s blog, or article and unconsciously you walk in life by “their” view, not yours and in the end you carry with all of the consequences, good or bad for that. Don’t live anybody else’s view for your life.

The day will come when your eyes will open for the last time and you will breathe your last breath. A day will come when a final sentence will be said about you. What will that be? I truly hope that I can say as Paul told Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Run in life with all your might, all your heart and all your strength, but run your race.

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

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© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2012
Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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