It's Not a Race

"You beat me yesterday."
"It's not a race."
We were talking about the math quiz yesterday. Sometimes it feels like a race. With only the last twenty minutes of class to finish our weekly math quiz, if/when it takes longer, it is almost guaranteed to be rushed, and therefore not one's best work, and then the delay makes everyone late to whatever class happens to come next. This week wasn't so bad. I think almost everyone finished before the next class period. That's what I was trying to say in the above conversation. The thing is, it's a math quiz; it shouldn't need to be a race.

One thing that is like a race is our relationship with God.

Heb 12:1-2
1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.(NAS)

It's not about who gets done first. What it is about is ever pursuing the goal of Jesus and the perfection of our faith. The metaphor is talking about putting the kind of focus that is needed in a race into our spiritual lives. In a race, you can't think of anything except for the goal at the end. All of your efforts are fixed on crossing the finish line. That's what this verse is talking about.