In Aesop’s fable Tortoise and Hare slow moving Tortoise challenges the braggadocios Hare, who claims he is the fastest animal around, to a race. Hare seeing how painfully slow Tortoise is decides to take a nap during the race. When he awakes he finds that Tortoise has only covered a third of the course. Hare seeing this decides he has plenty of time and goes off the course to eat some cabbage he sees in a nearby field. After eating the cabbage Hare becomes sleepy again and takes another nap. When he awakes from the nap he sees Tortoise at a far distance only one yard from the finish. He leaps from his sleep and with all his might jolts to the finish. In just a few seconds he would be the winner. But when he crosses the finish line he is just a fraction of a second too late for Tortoise had stretched out his neck and won the race.
Our walk with God is a race. I Corinthians 9:24 tells us to run this race in such a way as to get the prize, to win. From this fable we discover some very important principles that must be applied to our lives in order to win the race. Why did the tortoise win the race? When we observe how he won we can see how we can win.
The most noticeable action of the tortoise is that he did not stop. He was consistent even when he felt like giving up. Philippians 3:12-14 encourages us to press on to attain the prize which God has for us. While the tortoise was consumed with consistency the hare was in love with comfort. To be victorious in our walk with God we must press on even when we don’t feel like it, even when we don’t want to smile, don’t want to listen, are too tired to clean, want to do our own thing we still have to be consistent. Your relationship with God is supposed to be uncomfortable at times. If it is always comfortable, then you are not running the race (you’re losing).
The second characteristic of the tortoise is that he did everything he could to get to the finish. He focused on improvement. The hare, on the other hand, did the bare minimum to win the race. Pride was the hare’s number one downfall. He thought that he was better than everyone else around him. He believed that everyone else was below him. Pride is the number one hindrance to you winning the race. Pride allows zero room for improvement. It destroys your ability to listen to your parents and others who instruct you to make changes in your life because you believe you know best.
The final lesson we attain from the tortoise is that he walked straight with his eyes on the finish line the entire time. The hare, though, was sidetracked and traveled away from the course to eat cabbage. When I was a junior in college on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day my dad and I decided to run the Thanksgiving Outback Road Race. My dad would run the 6k (3.6 miles) and I would run the ½ marathon (13.1 miles). The ½ marathon and 6k start together but then at the mile split right for the 6k and left for the half marathon. The gun fired and off I went. When I passed the mile marker going left I thought about how my dad would finish. As I ran along I felt pretty good in the race and by mile seven I was in the top ten. I was cutting down around five seconds every mile until mile 8.
As I approached the mile 8 marker I noticed someone who looked very familiar. As I ran up to this person I realized that he was in fact more familiar than I ever imagined, “Dad! What in the world are you doing?” Turning to look at me he responded, “Hey Ryan! I went the wrong way!” Now something you must understand to get this hilarious scene in your head is that my dad had somehow missed the right turn at the mile and had wandered through neighborhoods and was now running with the top ten runners in a race of nearly 2000 people. As he trotted along people in the crowd were cheering him on for being in the top ten with all the college and pro runners. Passing my dad I laughed nonstop for the next two miles thinking about this.Running along I was still in the top 10 coming up on mile 12 when someone yelled at me, “Keep your eye on the signs! The sun may hinder you from seeing them easily!” Paying little attention to this I continued to run hard, picking up my pace more and more. In just a little over a mile I would be finished. As I did this something devastating occurred. Being in the zone I all of a sudden realized that I was at the end of a cul-de-sac. My heart dropped when I realized this and I turned to 2 guys who were in their front lawn and asked, “Where is the race!” “Back that way!” they responded. I got back on track and still finished top ten but it was definitely more painful than necessary.
When we get off the course the journey is far more painful than if we simply followed in Jesus’ footsteps. Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to keep our eyes set on Jesus Christ in this race of Christianity. When we take our focus and place it on something else we lose the race. Christianity is a marathon, not a sprint. It is a step by step process. Where are you at in the race? What step do you need to take next? Maybe it’s giving your life to Jesus. Maybe it’s being respectful to your parents, smiling more often, or cleaning the dishes without your mom asking you. Maybe you’re on mile 9 and it’s reading your Bible or even getting a Bible. Whatever it is God is calling you to take the next step.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
One of the most important things you must do in order to win the race that I did not mention is that you must have a running partner. This journey is long and hard at times and is impossible to do on your own. Therefore, I encourage you to do everything you can to get your child involved with the Godly friendships in this middle school ministry. For the guys, Band of Brothers is probably the best way for young men to develop Godly friendships. For the girls, get involved in the life group on Saturdays. This race will be very difficult to win if it is just about a 1 hour service each week on Sunday morning. Godly friendships are worth the effort!
Ryan Austin
Element Youth Leader
