Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise (smart) as serpents and innocent as doves.
Matthew 10:16

You’ve heard it said that the race is not to the swift but to him who endures to the end, but at the 2012 Olympic games in London, we are learning that, it is not he who swims the fastest time but he who can touch the wall the first.

The former is about perseverance and taking one day at a time. It’s about getting up when you fail and trying again. It’s about moving forward in the face of detours, and setbacks and adversity. But the latter is about smarts, creativity, ingenuity. It’s about doing what you have to do to outsmart your enemy. It is about learning all the wiles, schemes and tricks of the enemy, and a few of your own to beat him at his game.

In 2008 Jason Lezak anchored the US men’s relay to gold by out-touching French swimmer Alain Bernard by .08 seconds. In 2012 Chad Le Cros from South Africa out-touched Phelps in the men’s 200 meter butterfly by .05 seconds to steel the gold. And in the men’s 100m freestyle in London Nathan Adrian out-touched Australia’s James Magnussen by one-hundredth of a seconds to take the gold medal. All these guys are fast in their own right, but some are smarter.

Both sayings are powerful truths in their own right, but one thing for sure about both saying is that, both have managed to keep their eyes on the ultimate prize – Gold! Victory! Heaven!

As we run or compete in this race that is set before us, let us run and compete with our eyes fixed on the prize of our high calling. We will have to persevere and we will definitely have to outsmart the devil, but keeping focus on the ultimate prize will help remind us why we are in the race in the first place.

Gold, Victory, Heaven!

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Photo via: A Good Place