Continue Your Race

Hey, what's up? This is Tim Pratt Jr. I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this content today. I hope you hear something that has value to your life, shaping your perspective, faith, and hope, as well as the application to see it through on this thing that we call life. Enjoy. What's up everybody? So it is January 1st, 2020, and this episode probably won't post until January 6th, 2020 because I'm out here Lynchburg, Virginia with my wife. Uh, basically I've been just camped up in the hotel, really just consecrating myself and spending a lot of time just in my studies and just on and on and on and just communing with the Lord before I go on this, this solitude, you know, break with just really drawing closer to God and just, just planning and, you know, just wherever he leads me. And so I wanted to kind of knock out a few episodes so I can truly focus on that. And this one being the first one at a lunch in, like I said, January 6th, 2020, Continue Your Race. I just wanted to basically give you something that you can make your own and really just being obedient and sensitive to the Spirit. And I'm not really one of those big, you know, New Year, New Me type people, you know, New Year resolutions type and all of that. But if you are, you know, hey, I'm encouraging you., but you need community. You need to be around people that's actually doing it, uh, because I feel like, you know, we already make it hard for people now. I mean, anytime somebody, you know, wants to start off the year strong and we instantly come in and discourage them, you gotta look at yourself. So like I said, if you are one of those people, more power to you. But like I just said, you know, get around community. And so as we dive into this episode, you know, Continue Your Race, And I believe this is the 5th episode of this season 2. We're going to come from basically Hebrews 12:1-3, and I'm reading this from, uh, I believe it's the— let me see which one am I reading this from. I'm not sure exactly which translation. It's one of my, my study Bibles, but basically it's Hebrews 12:1-3, and I just want to go ahead and kind of read this scripture. And then, you know, we'll get into unpacking this. So it says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. And you can continue on and on and on, but the key thing, key text that I want to focus on is the one where it talks about let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. The race that is set before us. So that lets me know that we have our own lane. It's in front of us, and Jesus is basically— he's the author and the finisher. He's the perfecter of it. We look to him. And to kind of, you know, give you an example coming right out the gate, back in my younger days— and I don't encourage this at all, I was just being stupid, uh, but I had a little Honda, and then, you know, ended up getting a Camaro about 22. And back then, especially when I had my Honda days, uh, you know, I was inspired by Fast and Furious, and it was just a little 1.6, couldn't really beat nothing on the highway, to be honest with you. But, you know, I would oftentimes, you know, people would pull up next to me and just mess with me, you know. Most of the time it's other Hondas. Like, I kind of knew my lane, you know. If a Camaro or GT Mustang pulled up next to my Honda Civic, I wasn't, you know, gonna try to do nothing. But what I'm basically getting to is that it would be times that cars I felt like I could go with, I would be on my way somewhere, you know, and so they pull up beside me and I start, you know, competing with them, racing with them. And sometimes, you know, like I would just straight up, you know, get distracted where I was supposed to be going, you know, especially if I was in the city and like just on my way to the mall. But then I'm so caught on racing them that I miss my exit. And now they going on and I have to loop around and come back around. And that's a faint example. But what I want to draw from that is that if I just would have stayed in my lane and continued my race, meaning in the context of just focusing on going where I was supposed to have been going, then I wouldn't have had to detour by letting them, you know what I'm saying, basically getting in line with them. Because say for instance, like I was going to the mall, but they were going to the grocery store and shop. So now I'm at the grocery store when my intent was to go to the mall. And now I'm basically somewhere where I never intended to be. And so, like I say, in that example, when you look at it in the practicality of our lives, like I said, I know it's just a small fan example, but— and the consequences are not so much great in that parameters. But when it comes into the context of our lives they can be. And what I mean by that is like, you know, especially in today's society with social media— and social media is not a bad thing, it's all about anything in life, it's like either you master it or it masters you— but if we're not careful, social media, the friends, you know, envious and jealousies, all these things can creep up and we start trying to outdo and change things. Like for example, you know, you could be wanting to go on a vacation you know, and planning. And then, but you look on social media or you see some friends and it's like they're going— seem like they're just moving all over the world. Now you don't know, they could be faking it and really just broke, or they could have been saving up for a year or two, you know, and just say, okay, I'm gonna save up for 2 years, I've already, you know, earmarked this money. You don't know what they did behind the scenes. But now here you go, you take on this feeling of like, man, dang, they race look a lot better than mine. So I'm going to start taking vacations so I can post my pictures too. And then you didn't take no time to budget, you know, pay off things, probably didn't get the deals that they got and all that type of stuff. But now you're competing with them. And so, but you just probably set yourself up to be, you know, behind schedule again for another 2, 3 years in life, you know, all because you took your eyes off of the lane, the race that you— that's been sitting in front of you. And so, you know, it could be a timing thing, you know, God could be leading them. You just never know. And so it's just very important to remember that. Like I said, if you take nothing else, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. And you know, Christ, man, you know, of course you can go so many different directions with this context of scripture, but the most important thing to understand is that, you know, Jesus came and he conquered it. Like just hands down. And when you're running, I mean, you know, oftentimes in life, why I say at the beginning of this episode, I say you need community, is because when you're running your race, it's very important to, you know, have people that kind of really know your race. I'm not saying you got to share all the key details, but for example, this is why it's very important to go to church. You know, I'm not saying we go to church more so to like hear from God all the time, and, you know, it's just to partake in the fellowship. You know, we can Like right now I'm sitting in the hotel, I can commune with the Father, talk to him, you know, and all this type of stuff. But at the same time, you know, at some point I'm like, man, I just want to worship and fellowship with some people that's basically feeling similar ways that I am. And so that's where community comes in, you know. Once again, like my brother, you know, he was telling me when he was going through the academy with becoming a state trooper And, you know, and he of course finished it and stuff like that. But he would say like, man, you know, you just seen in the movies all the time, like when the weakest link or whatever you want to call it, when they would be wanting to give up, you know, it's best for one of them to go back and drop back and circle around and help push them through, encourage them. Like they might not know all that's going on, but just saying, okay, where it can be a weight shift. And so it's like, okay, they want to give up, but now they can focus less on their pain and focus more on the person that's motivating them. And that's why we need community, you know, that's why we need to be connected with small groups, you know, or your local church, or just like true friends in general. And so, as you know, saying basically, like I said, this will be a quick episode, but you want to run the races that's in front of you and you want to identify, you know, what you are and what you're not. And this is kind of like my closing point here, is because that's very important to, you know, John the Baptist, when they thought he was the Messiah. And, you know, he kept pointing to Christ, saying, no, no, no, I'm not going to take up on that mantle, you know. And oftentimes, you know, in life, you know, we, we do— we want to take on the mantle where they feel like, I'm this and I'm that, so I'm gonna live in it. And now you living in something that's not— it's not your race. John the Baptist couldn't go to the cross. He wouldn't have been— he just, he wouldn't have been able to endure what was set out before Christ. So stay in your lane. That's one thing that I'm learning in life. And, you know, for me, a few years ago when I was kind of like off of just social media in general, I accomplished so much when I stayed, you know, disconnected. And however, you know, it is a powerful thing, and I don't feel like I'll stay as disconnected as I did like a while back, but I do see the pluses in it, man, because we do. You will accomplish so much more in life if you just learn to run the race that has been set in front of you and keeping your eyes on Christ, the greatest helper, instructor, you know, and being empowered by the Holy Spirit. But just keeping your eyes fixated on him, he knows it, and you will endure it. But it has to be your race. Hey, thank you so much for listening to this content today. I want to encourage you, if you haven't already, to subscribe to it and share it with family and friends on your social media feeds. And you can also go over to www.timothyprattjr.org in order to find out more about the blog as well as other things that I offer on how to connect with me. So with that being said, I hope you have a blessed day and continue to see this thing through that we call life.