The Apostle Paul said that he finished the race. Like athletes, we as people need to have a healthy grasp of ‘competing right’. There must be a goal. There must be a plan. There most definitely must be action and progress. Competing right must also bring joy and a sense of achievement. Some athletes have this “killer mentality” where their aim is to take out the opposition. I believe that to ‘compete right’ you have got to know where your main competition is coming from so that you can plan to compete with the right attitude. It is amazing to see races where the competitors coming last have their hands raised in victory and the winner is all grumpy. You will find out that the athletes with their arms raised have broken their best time ever and run the best race they ever have. So, to start to compete right it must start with a vision or a goal:
Goal or Vision
What do you want to achieve?
- What race are you training for?
- What event lies before you?
Know your position
- Who are we competing against?
Clean up your vision, making it clear.
- Get rid of anything that is clouding your vision
- Get rid of distractions, that may take your eyes off your goal.
Proverbs 29:18: Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Once you have a clear vision, you need a plan. (A vision without a plan is a fantasy.)
Plan or Training Schedule
This takes dedication and hard work. Do you think that one day Wayde Van Niekerk woke up and said, “Today I am going to break the 400m world record”? Not a chance. He had to get up early and train. He had to sacrifice to train. He put in an enormous amount of effort. He had to have ‘miles in his legs’. His lungs needed to build capacity. He needed to prepare in line with his vision. We don’t see those times, those long hours. In the same way, we need to spend time with God and study of His Word. We might not see the time and effort put in, but we will see the effect it has on the person’s life.
Action and Progress
Nutrition
- What are you feeding yourself with?
- Are you feeding yourself with the right food? If you are a power athlete you need more protein than the marathon runner who needs to be lighter.
Although books by other authors can help you along your way and encourage you, the Bible needs to be you daily staple reading.
Joshua 1:7-8: ……. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Any top athlete will tell you that a diet can make or break you.
Race Day Strategy
- Here we may go back and revisit our vision to strategize how we are going to “do” this race.
Investigate well
- Know the race route.
- Know what you are facing.
- You may need different equipment or preparation to achieve the goals.
A cyclist will look at the race, and change the gears or even change the bike depending on the race he will face – either a flat, mountain or time trial.
Our daily Bible reading is of utmost importance, but there also comes a time when we need to preach to or share with, or encourage ourselves or others and we may need to focus on a particular subject.
Rest
Any athlete will tell you that rest is an especially important part of training. Don’t be afraid to rest and to be quiet. On the seventh day God rested. To compete right you also need to rest and recover.
Conclusion
Once we have all of this preparation done, we are ready to compete right. Often our biggest competitor is us ourselves …. we need to overcome ourselves to compete right.
Never give up!
– Shaun Prince