Track 5 Devotional: “Rat Race”

I don’t know about you, but life seems to get more hectic with each passing day. It’s so easy to get caught up in the here and now and let the “to-do” list run your life. When Josh and I wrote “Rat Race” that’s exactly how I felt! We wrote this in the fall of 2012 and things have a way of getting pretty hectic in the fall when it comes to church work. I was lost in a world of preparing for three Christmas programs, trying to keep up with all the various ministries in our church, trying to keep up with daily household needs and on top of that our pastor announced his retirement. I felt trapped in my never-ending to-do list and it just seemed to get longer each day. I was way passed exhausted and stressed. It got so bad that I just cried and cried in my doctor’s office when just going in for a regular checkup (my poor doctor)!

Have you ever felt this way, weighed down by the cares of life? Caught up in the rat race, as many like to call it? It’s a miserable place to be in and it’s not the life God has called us to live. One of my favorite verses is John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (NKJV). God has called us to an abundant life, not a life chained down by schedules and stress. Yet, how do we find freedom from the rat race? We simply come. Come to the Father that loves and cares for you. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV). His yoke is so much easier to carry than the yoke that we take up for ourselves or that the world hands us. All we have to do is come.

Yet, all of this bears another question: why do we choose to get caught up in the rat race? Who are we seeking to please or what goal are we trying to achieve? I hate to admit it, but too often I’m caught up in the rat race trying to please others. I desperately want people to like me and because of that fact I struggle to say “no”. Are you the same way or is it something else? Perhaps you are desperate to achieve success or make more money. Maybe you’re trying to impress someone or try and feel better about yourself. Whatever the reason, we will not find satisfaction in those things. The only thing we need to be caught up in is Christ. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you well” (Matthew 6:33, NIV). When we seek Christ He’ll take care of everything else! That isn’t a promise that things will be easy, but a promise that He will be there with you through it and more.

God doesn’t call us to run the rat race, but instead to “…run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” (Hebrews 12:1, NIV). Let’s set our sights on Christ and discover the abundant life He has for us!

-Ashley Adams

Questions to Ponder:
1. What things/people/places weigh me down in my life? Have I surrendered each of these to God?

2. Are there things in my life that I need to say “no” to in order to focus on the Lord more?