This morning we continue our summer blockbuster series, but we are shifting movies from The Chronicles of Naria: Voyage of the Dawn Treader to Secretariat – the movie that tells the real life story behind the last horse to win the triple crown of horse racing – the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont. Here’s a quick overview of the film – Penny, our movie’s heroine, takes over the operation of her family’s horse farm after her father becomes unable to take care of the business. Through a stroke of luck and wise choices she comes to own a young foal named Secretariat, whom she nick names “Big Red” and, through a series of tough times and challenges, she manages to save her family farm by leading Secretariat to win the prize of all prizes in horse racing, the triple crown.

The whole thing reminds me of another race that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27,

Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Now what is this race that Paul is talking about? He’s not talking about some physical race, some spiritual marathon, but rather relating that life itself is like a race. And, whether we acknowledge it or not, each and every one of us is running a race in life. Life is constantly in motion, what is new today will be old tomorrow and yet more is ahead of us. We move at a constant pace towards some goal, and exactly what the goal is determines just which race we are in. You see, though we are all in a race, not everyone is racing to win the same prize.

Some of us are running what I’m calling the ‘rat race.’ You know the rat race, that maze of life where we are constantly twisting and turning through dead ends and wrong turns until we at last come to that small nibble of cheese that is our prize. It’s a life defined by drudgery with the ultimate goal being survival. The funniest thing about the rat race to me is that most of the people running it have no idea what race they are in. They think survival is like the TV shows that show people out in the wilderness building shelters out of sticks and starting fire with a battery and some steel wool. They look at life and think their life is ok. They have no desire for anything better while at the same time working hard to keep things just the way that they are.

Those in the rat race are driven by fear. They fear what life might be like if they take a chance so they hold to the status quo. They don’t want to rock the boat so they just keep on with what they are doing, never answering the call on their lives to live more, to be more in life and have true purpose. They are like that servant that Jesus speaks of who hides the gold – thinking that not losing is a better way to live than trying to succeed. Life, for the rat racer, is a life of comfort – their desire isn’t for anything great and lofty, only to have their basic needs met and nothing more. And when struggles come, the fear flares up and the complaints begin. “Why did you lead us out here to die when we had a good enough life when we were slaves in Egypt?” The rat racers said to Moses. Faced with struggle it is easy to gloss over problems of the past and wish for a life of perceived comfort again. The rat race cares only about itself and is generally apathetic towards the rest of the world – if they do well, fine. If they fail, fine. As long as it doesn’t affect me, the rat racer says, I’m ok. But as much as survival seems like a worthy goal in the harsh world in which we life, that goal will never fulfill our hearts. It will leave us empty and longing for more.

There is another race that many people run, and that race is the ‘race against time.’ Those in this race live lives almost the polar opposite of the rat racers. Where the rat race is about survival, the race against time is a race for success. You can call it climbing the corporate ladder or the attitude that is expressed in the bumper sticker “He who dies with the most toys wins” – the attitude of the race against time is that we only have so much time in life that we have to make every moment count to its utter fullest – grabbing all that we can from this finite world while we still can. It is as though life is some all you can grab shopping spree where we have a clock counting down as we run afrenzy stuffing our lives with everything that we think is going to bring us happiness. It is a race driven by greed – the false belief that the things of the world, money and prestige and worldly adoration – will fill our hearts with happiness. It tells us that if we get enough, we will be happy, but it is a life that is lived in discontent. We falsely believe that lie that the things of this world can fulfill our soul’s eternal desires, but they never do. We get a new car, but just as soon as we drive it off the lot there is something newer and better. The latest gadget makes us happy for a time, until the next generation comes out with new features we just can’t live without. If we can just get that promotion it will mean more money and a bigger house, but it won’t bring us peace and joy. No, those eternal things of our soul can never be filled by the temporal, fleeting things of the world. And it drives us to an attitude of mercilessness – it’s a dog eat dog world and only the strong survive. Sure, God forgives us, but does that mean that we need to go forth and be loving and merciful to others? Not if we are racing against time. Whoever runs the fastest, is the strongest, can hold out the longest – they will win the prize of the world. But it’s a prize of fool’s gold, only a plastic metal won through crushing those around us as ‘enemies’ and standing alone with nothing that really matters in the grand scope of a time with no end.

The ‘rat race’ will only end up in a lifetime of drudgery lived out in the apathy summed up in the pithy saying, ‘life’s harsh, and then you die.’ – or something like that. The ‘race against time’ promises great rewards for those who gain success, but it ends up a lonely walk to promises that never pan out to be as great as our mind makes them to be. But we don’t need to live this way. God has another way for us to live, what I’m terming here as the ‘good race.’ The good race isn’t concerned about survival – indeed, those that run the good race know that God will provide for all their needs. The good race isn’t about success – the focus is on a much larger reward than anything this earth can promise. The goal of the good race is to live as God intends – to be like God. To sum it up in a word, the goal of the good race is holiness, both in this life and in the life to come. This is God’s call on us – ‘be holy because I am holy.’ And it is a goal that we can spend a lifetime pursuing and, through our own power, never achieve. But in those times that we live rightly – when we choose to live life as God would have us live instead of falling back into survival or material success – we garner a reward that is greater than any other.

When we run the good race, we are driven by righteousness. “What is true, and honorable and right,” Paul says, we should fix our thoughts on these things. This is what drives us when we are running the race that God has set before us. We are driven not by a desire to gain something of this world, but to be transformed into the sons and daughters of God that we were created to be. We can know we are in the good race when we care more about how we are living life, whether our actions honor God and others, instead of the results. When we want a life that pleases God instead of a life that brings us pleasures, then we are driven by righteousness. But that’s not to say that life does not have its rewards. We may have the same job and the same house and the same car – the same ‘stuff’ of life, but we have it and hold it in a much different way. It is a life of contentment – an understanding that the stuff of this world is only temporary and a trust that God will provide all that we need. Being content means understanding that our meaning and purpose is not defined in what we have, but in who we are. We don’t lose a desire to do our best or gain in life, but we do it with an understanding that what we have is not ours, but God’s. And we learn to trust that God will provide and God will use us and the gifts we have around us to bring about His blessing in the world. You don’t have to sell all you have and donate it to the poor to be content, but you have to release your control over your life to God. When you no longer control your stuff (because you’ve given it to God), that stuff can no longer control you. And then you can truly live with an attitude of mercy towards others. You can see that life is best lived with the same love that God has given you – undeserved and abundant.

Friends, you are in a race. Life is rushing around you and you may be finding yourself struggling to keep up, just surviving or you may find yourself pushing hard to stay out front. Either way you are running to a prize that will never fulfill your soul. It’s time to run a different race, the good race. It’s time to lay aside the things of this world and take up the holiness of God. Will you run the race that will win you the ultimate prize in life? I invite you to run with God the race of life and receive the eternal prize of Christ.

Overall, the book handles a wide swath of topics from women in ministry to evolution to homosexuality.  It also provides a basic overview of the foundational tenets of faith.  As an introduction into the discussion on these topics, Thielen does well at covering the basics.  But if you are looking for a thorough handling of any of these topics, the book comes up lacking.  Much of the book is dedicated to personal stories and less so to what scriptures relate to the topics.  At times Thielen’s more progressive views of scripture and of controversial topics is very evident.  The book provides a good introduction and points of discussion for topics, but leaves the reader without clear answers on some topics.  It also fails to encourage and empower Christians to see sharing faith with others as vital to the Christian life.  In this way we fall into the same old trap of faith as a set of beliefs one holds and not a commitment to a lifestyle of transformation through Jesus Christ.

Overall, Thielen may toe the line on various topics, but is careful to not cross over.  The book may be a great guide for challenging discussion for some groups, but should not be considered as a great resource for deep understanding of beliefs.  For mature believers who wish to discuss controversial topics this may be a good starting point, but I would not recommend it for those still seeking faith.  It may provide some answers, but more often than not it only leaves you with more questions and a desire to see what scripture itself may say.

Ran across this great quiz on the website of fellow believer, Tim Challies:

Fortune Cookie or Joel Osteen? For each quote below, identify whether it comes from a fortune cookie or from Joel Osteen.

Question One

“Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.”

Question Two

“Do all you can to make your dreams come true.”

Question Three

“Take time to make a difference. Think about how you can make somebody else’s life better.”

Question Four

“Avoid focusing on the negative aspects of the past.”

Question Five

“You have something to offer that nobody else can give!”

Question Six

“When you can’t naturally feel upbeat, it can sometimes help to act as if you did.”

Question Seven

“To affirm is to make firm.”

Question Eight

“Relationships are more important than our accomplishments.”

Question Nine

“Somebody needs your encouragement. Somebody needs to know that you believe in them.”

Question Ten

“The best things in life aren’t things.”

Question Eleven

“You will produce what you’re continually seeing in your mind.”

Question Twelve

“Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.”

*****

Answers: Fortune Cookie, Joel Osteen, Joel Osteen, Fortune Cookie, Joel Osteen, Fortune Cookie, Fortune Cookie, Joel Osteen, Joel Osteen, Fortune Cookie, Joel Osteen, Fortune Cookie

The only difference between where you are right now, andwhere you’ll be next year at this same time, are the people youmeet and the books you read.  Charles “Tremendous” Jones