Why Do You Race?Sample

Godly Reasons to Race 1. Worship

If our fundamental reason for existing and racing is to glorify the Lord, how do we do that practically? How do we move beyond man-centered pursuits onto God-centered, passionate, and obedient responses to who He is and what He asks of us? While there may be a number of ways to practically do this, we’ll cover three broad bible-based ways over the coming three days. The first is worship!

Worship is the expression of reverence and adoration towards God. It is a conscious focusing of your complete attention – mental, emotional, and physical (all of you) – towards God, acknowledging, honoring, and expressing praise to Him for His overwhelming awesomeness.

Admittedly, this can be a challenge during training or racing as you’re also focusing on exercise, nutrition, strategy, form, competition, encouraging others, not crashing your bike, perhaps controlling pain and effort, etc. However, the act of training and racing can be done worshipfully. How?

While I leave plenty of room for each person to fill in the blank here, going back to biblically-based spiritual disciplines can give us some direction. A list of disciplines to consider includes: prayer, praising the Lord through songs, hymns, and Psalms, listening to Scripture, quoting Scripture, and meditating on Scripture.

Admittedly, this is a non-exhaustive list, and these things can be done internally or externally. The point is that you are intentionally focusing your attention on the Lord, wholeheartedly trusting and praising Him in the moment, seeking to proclaim His glory through the act of exercise and competition. In the end, you are taking your focus away from yourself and others, and acknowledging the awesomeness of God. This glorifies Him and is a godly reason to race.

Reflections:
1. When is the last time you spent an entire training or racing session focused on the Lord?
2. What prevents or distracts you from giving God your complete attention while training and racing?
3. What are some unique opportunities provided by worshipping the Lord through training or racing that you may not get while worshipping in other environments? How can you capitalize on these?

To share a prayer request and praise, or to pray for other endurance athletes, please visit: www.facebook.com/groups/FCAEndurance.PrayerTeam