Pressing Toward the Prize

Several years ago there was a Christian music artist who wrote and performed a song named “Pressing Toward the Prize” which was my jam at the time.  I loved that song.  It was an uplifting and very encouraging song.  

The chorus went like this:

I won't stop running 'til I've won the race
I won't stop praying 'til I see His blessed face
I will not settle for a life of compromise
I'll just keep pressing toward the prize
Until I see Him in the skies

I have been a believer for a very long time.  I have never given up in my faith in God.  It hasn’t always been easy but I am committed to finishing my “race” as Paul stated in Philippians 3:12-14.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Pressing means that you have to make the effort.  Just as in running a race, you have to do something to reach the finish line even if you don’t feel like it.  I know that there are definitely a lot of reasons that people choose not to believe but that’s not my choice.  Someone’s lack of belief isn’t going to change my mind.  The bottom line is that I have gone too far to turn back now.

Am I perfect?  Far from it.  I don’t always get it right.  I mess up and sometimes I fall but I always get back up and keep pressing on.  I am committed to learning from my mistakes and striving to do better.

When I read about how marathon runners prepare for the big race, there were three things that stood out to me:

• Diet - When a runner is serious about training for a marathon, they have to eat the right foods.  They can’t just sit on the couch eating potato chips and then decide to jump up and win a marathon.  When you decide to follow God, you have to have the right spiritual diet.  Eliminate the junk in your life and make sure you are ingesting things that will help you to run the race.
• Pace Yourself - Runners will train and learn how they have to pace themselves.  In a marathon, you can’t just run as fast as you can or you will certainly burn out along the way.  You have to do the same thing spiritually.  You have to know your limitations and adjust your “race” accordingly.
• Don’t compete with others -  When you run a marathon, you can’t be consumed with what others are doing.  You have to run your own race.  In the spiritual race, we can’t compete with others.  What works for others may not work for you.  Some people need church.  There’s nothing wrong with that but that doesn’t mean everyone who is a believer has to belong to a church organization.  Some pray out loud while others pray silently.  You have to do what works for you.

The main thing to winning any race is that you have to have a made up mind to do it.  You can’t do it half-hearted.  In being a believer you either have to believe or not.  There are some days that I don’t feel like doing it but those are the days I focus on the pressing part.  I know it’s going to be worth it in the end if I don’t give up.

Growing up in the church we had a hymnal we referred to as the "Blue Book" which had the hymn "I Am Determined".   I was always excited in singing the last verse in that hymn:

When I hear the trumpet sounding in the sky

And see the mountains trembling to heaven I will fly

For Jesus will be calling there'll be no time to mend

With joy I'll go up singing "I've held out to the end"

We MUST be determined to finish our race.