How to: do the World Race successfully.
I’m not saying that I have all the answers, but I think that there are three key traits to being a successful World Racer, or honestly being a follower of Jesus. These are them:
F L E X I B I L I T Y
The first thing that a Racer needs to be successful is flexibility. If there’s anything constant about the Race it’s constant change.
Every week on the Race looks different. Even on the Gap Year where we are in the same country for almost 3 months at a time, every week brings different ministry opportunities, different team dynamics, different levels of understanding and different revelations from the Lord.
Just as in life, if we are set in our ways and refuse to bend with the ebb and flow of the Lord’s plan we will fail. A house made of concrete falls faster than a house made of wood in an earthquake. This is because a house that can bend with the moving of the world around it can sustain anything, but a house that cannot bend with the movement of the earth will crumble.
In the same way, if a Racer, or essentially every Christian, can adapt and bend with the world around them, they will THRIVE.
Everyone knows Philippians 4:13, but the context of this verse is what gives it life.
Philippians 4:11-13 says
“For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
E N D U R A N C E
The next thing that a Racer needs is endurance.
The Race is hard. Sure, some Racers get sick less than others, and some Racers bring less baggage than others, but at some point in the Race, it will be hard.
Your team will walk through conflict. Your ministry kids will give you lice. Your bus ride will end up somewhere you’re not supposed to be. Your stomach will decide to empty itself because it doesn’t like Asian food.
The Race will be hard.
But so is life.
We cannot simply sit in how much things suck. I will be the first to admit it is easy to curl up into a ball and wallow in how hard it is. How hard it is to be in pain, how hard it is to resolve conflict, how hard it is to choose in. But the reason that I am still on the Race, and the reason that every Racer is here and every Christian lives abundant life is endurance.
Success is not measured by the amount of time you stay on the Race, but by the trust we have to endure hard things and move towards Jesus through them.
A Racer will succeed if they can say “This is hard, and I will continue to abide with the Father and obey. This is hard, and I will stand my ground.”
Ephesians 6:13 says
“Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
Which brings me to
D E P E N D E N C E
Dependence can be substituted with the word abidance.
The only way to bear fruit is to abide with the Father. To depend on him for everything.
Dependence is what makes flexibility and endurance possible.
When we depend on only the Lord instead of our set ways, we are capable of adapting to any and all situation.
When we depend on only the Lord, we have faith and vision to stand our ground. We are capable of doing hard things because we know who will sustain us.
If there’s anything I will take away from the Race, it is how important dependence on the Lord is. Because without being filled, I cannot fill others. Because without remembering who the Father says I am, I cannot fight lies. Because without talking to the Father, I have nothing worth saying. Because without depending on the Father, I will fall, and he will catch me because he knows that he is the only solid ground.
