Have you heard of the infamous bedtime story about the Rabbit and the Turtle? This might refresh you

Have you heard of the infamous bedtime story about the Rabbit and the Turtle? This might refresh your mind. One day a rabbit was boasting about how fast he could run. He was laughing at the turtle for being so slow. Much to the rabbit’s surprise, the turtle challenged him to a race. The rabbit thought this was a good joke and accepted the challenge. The fox was to be the umpire of the race. As the race began, the rabbit raced way ahead of the turtle, just like everyone thought.The rabbit got to the halfway point and could not see the turtle anywhere. He was hot and tired and decided to stop and take a short nap. Even if the turtle passed him, he would be able to race to the finish line ahead of him. All this time the turtle kept walking step by step by step. He never quit no matter how hot or tired he got. He just kept going.However, the rabbit slept longer than he had thought and woke up. He could not see the turtle anywhere! He went at full speed to the finish line but found the turtle there waiting for him.Generally, this bedtime story supposedly teaches us about not underestimating our weakest opponents but we can also see another side or another lesson from this story. In Philippians 3:14, Apostle Paul used an analogy of a runner who focuses on the goal ahead of Him. Paul mentioned that a runner should always fix his eyes on the goal. As Christians, we should always remember to fix our eyes to the prize which God has called us upward in Jesus Christ. We should focus on forwarding ourselves, not on our prior mistakes. Just like Paul who was once a Christian persecutor, his past can be a very big stumbling block. He was a killer, he killed so many Christians before but he did not let his past get a hold of him, instead he focused himself to the prize. We too should do the same thing, for God wants us to focus on Jesus and fix our eyes to the prize that we will have in the future through Him. If we follow Paul and let go of our past to fix our eyes in Jesus, then let us also learn from the story of the rabbit and the turtle. The rabbit was so complacent of its unsolicited victory, took its eyes from his goal and took a short stop-over but because of its complacency, its enemy won. Even if we already had let go of our past, the race will not end until we are already in heaven so we must be very vigilant and always stay active and not be complacent of our short success. We may have let go of our past, but let us also remain steadfast throughout the whole race and become faithful to our task. Sometimes we think that we are too ahead of everybody because maybe we think that we already know Christ since we were still kids or that we already know Christ now unlike the others who are still blinded from the truth, but this should not be our attitude! Growing and learning is an unending process, so if we stop learning and seeking God because we think we are too ahead, then we are just imitating the rabbit’s mistake. We should continue to seek Him always.May we not become like the rabbit who grew complacent because of its short victory, instead, we may be like the turtle whose eyes are on the goal— not taking any stopovers. Just like Paul also, we must not let our past hinder us from running our race but let us become the racer Jesus wants us to be. Let us press on towards our goal; let us not forget our prize and we should always fix our eyes on Jesus. As Jesus died on the cross and rose again, He promised to give us eternal life and that we will be with Him in heaven— this is our prize. We must always remember that Jesus died for us and that as long as we are still alive in this world, our race is not yet finished. Let us press on towards our goal, let us be steadfast and be equipped through meditating in the Word of God as we continue to race until we reach our goal.For more daily reflection, verse and encouragement, you may follow us. You can also like, follow and visit us on:Website: https://youngdisciples.org/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/YoungdisciplesIntlTwitter: @YD153Instagram: @youngdisciples2020Pinterest: Young Disciples of Jesus -- source link

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