After I completed seven marathons, I decided to focus on running shorter distances and lowering my times. I trained hard using a diverse plan and felt ready to get out and test my improved half-marathon run time. However, I became so focused on the run time that I ignored my overall strategy and failed to run in such a way as to prevent injury. I knew the how and what of the race, but my focus became blurred because I was fixing my eyes on the wrong goal. I did not improve my time much and aggravated an old injury in the process. God taught me a valuable lesson.

The same can happen in our attempts to follow Christ. We may seek to live faithfully and obediently, and to share our faith with others, but there are times when we lose track of what we have learned and practiced and we come up short. We often put our convictions on a shelf because we are afraid of what others will think of us, or because our beliefs stand in the way of some worldly thing we want. That’s why we need to stay focused on the ultimate goal, which is life in God’s kingdom.

We learn this eternal truth from the world of competition. I lost focus during my half-marathon because I looked solely to myself. The same goes for our faith life. We cannot make it on our own. We need to keep Jesus in focus every moment and allow God’s Word to lead us down wise and eternally prosperous paths.