One Anothers Part X: Running the Race That Matters
- Dr. Victor Stanley
- Jun 2
- 3 min read
We are called to be One Anothers. It is quite an assignment. I know that you have what seem to be more pressing issues and challenges that dominate your life. You may still be waiting for some answers to prayer. You may still be hoping for God to heal a few sicknesses. You may still be waiting for God to save a few godless relatives. Why should you work so hard to do this One Anothers thing when it just seems like God is not working to accomplish things for you?
Anyone who says that the Christian life of faith is a cakewalk is probably not or a Christian. If they are, they probably have not been one for very long. Nevertheless, the key is that little four-letter word pronounced “faith.” It is not defined as “the evidence of things seen.” It is defined as “the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).
Consider the wisdom of James Macdonald, former pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, in Chicago:
We pray for an easier path when we ought to pray for stronger shoes. We pray for something to change when we ought to pray for God to change us. We pray for God to ease the thing that is causing us pain. Maybe we ought to pray that God would increase our capacity to live with it as it is, until such time comes when he changes it…if he changes it.
As some wise person has said, we should perhaps try praying: “Lord, make me spiritually willing to accept and receive what you already desire to do in me.
It is absolutely without a doubt that God, through the apostle Paul, does not pull any punches in his admonition. He writes, “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord” (Romans 12:11). The NKJV puts it this way, “Do not be lagging in diligence (conscientiousness), (But be) fervent (eager) in spirit.”
In the 1964 movie Cool Hand Luke, the criminal calls out mockingly to the sheriff with the words. “What we have here is a failure to communicate!” To the contrary, God does not have a failure to communicate. He designed the church (the Body of Christ) to function as One Anothers, and he has said as much in His Word. God designed One Anothers so that they can be interdependent. We are so much better together. We are stronger, wiser, and braver, together. You may not have realized it before, but I need you, and you need me, to survive in the body.
We live in a world obsessed with being first. However, Christ calls us, instead, to be faithful. The world says, “Make something of yourself.” Jesus says, “Lose yourself for My sake.” The world says, “Climb higher.” Jesus says, “Go lower…and serve.”
When we love this way, we don’t lose. We win differently. We win eternally. Let’s make that our rallying cry. Let’s compete to be the kindest, the most patient, the most forgiving people in the world. Because in the Kingdom of God, the only real competition is to outdo one another in love.
The race has been run, but. . .
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