As a child, my parents taught me the Golden Rule.
As a teenager, I attended a Christian summer camp where I
learned the I’m Third Motto: Put God first, others second, and yourself third.
On the World Race, we are taught to prefer our teammates.
Though the wording has changed throughout my life, the
underlying meaning is the same. Each phrase is rooted in Jesus’ command to
“love your neighbor as yourself.”
I think that sometimes this phrase gets overlooked and lost
in translation. We hear it over and over, we have the verse memorized, but how
often do we really put it into action, and when we do, are we really happy
about it?
Throughout the last few weeks, God has been showing me what
it means to love my neighbor. At this point in my life, preferring my teammates
means sitting at the mall when I’d rather be doing other things because
shopping is important to them and is something they love even though I don’t
understand it.
Preferring my teammates also means emptying the basket of
used toilet paper when it’s been full for a few days and obviously no one else
wants to empty it. (In case you didn’t know, America is one of the only
counties where you can actually flush the toilet paper.)
Loving my neighbor on the race means taking smaller portions
of food and not eating seconds to ensure everyone else has had enough to eat.
Loving my neighbor means getting changed in the bathroom so as not to wake my
teammates who are still sleeping. Loving my neighbor means leaving a pause
after someone is finished speaking before I say something to allow them the
grace of finishing their thought before I cut in.
On the race, loving my neighbor, or preferring my teammates
can take a million different forms. But the main thing I’m learning is that it
builds trust. When all seven of us continually prefer one another, it allows us
to walk in freedom. There’s no need to worry about getting sleep because you
can trust your team not to wake you. There’s no need to worry about all of the
food being eaten because you can trust your teammates to be thinking about you
and save you some.
I think this is why Jesus gave us this command. He came to
this earth so that we could be free, and I don’t think we can have joy if we
don’t have freedom. Freedom is a beautiful thing, and I encourage each of you
to live this out. Don’t grit your teeth; don’t suffer through it. But prefer
those around you with joy in your heart because from love comes freedom and
from freedom comes joy.
