Right Track

Isn’t it amazing how some memories just stay with us! One such memory for me is when Dad took the family to the dog races in Daytona Beach.  We didn’t go in because of the alcohol and gambling, but what fun we had standing outside the fence watching the dogs chase that rabbit-on-a-pole.  The best part was how Dad led us all to cheer for the rabbit!

 

Have you ever considered what you’re chasing?  I’ve often thought back to that race, and how the rabbit was always just out of the dogs’ reach.  I don’t know how dogs think, but they ran really fast for a long time yet I never saw them catch the rabbit.  Oh, the struggle we have to see the prize and know how to get it!  Sometimes we even get the prize but are soon disillusioned.  Paul wrote of the Christian’s race, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14).  The chase is ever-on: to pursue The Holy.  The prize isn’t something to hold in the hand, but rather that which grows and matures the heart and spirit through Christ Jesus.  Know it: God is the prize!  I don’t suppose those dogs ever figured out the rabbit wasn’t real; I know they never slowed down.  Is what you’re pursuing of any consequence, any eternal value?  If indeed it is to be “holy as God is holy,” you’re after the right prize and you’re on the right track!  Press on!