Back in my school days, I was an all-round athlete representing my house both in the short and mid-distance races; 100m, 200m, 400m, 4×100m and 4x400m. There were many races where some athletes made it to the end, even in first place but were then disqualified. It mainly happened to those who didn't stay in lane. In one race, the team who made it to the end first had dropped their baton but continued running thinking the fact they touched hands at the exchange was good enough, they were disqualified. Do you know that we are all in a race and that like any other race, we must run the correct way so as to obtain the prize? In this spiritual race, we can choose to either run using human effort and everything that naturally enables or qualifies us, or we can rely solely in our faith walk with Christ Jesus. Paul says; "for we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort." Philippians 3:3. Human effort is unreliable. My charge to you this morning is, run your race in a way that you will obtain the prize when you finish. "No dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." Philippians 3:13-14.
