The Pursuit of...
Do you ever feel that you are in pursuit of something that is just out of reach? Whether that is a promotion or more money or a bigger house… Constantly going back and forth to work trying to maintain a way of living. It can become exhausting and, at times, a little lonely. It’s been labeled as the rat race of life…
According to the history of the phrase, The earliest known occurrence is 1934. In reference to aviation training a rat race was originally a "follow-the-leader" game in which a trainee fighter pilot had to copy all the actions performed by an experienced pilot. From 1945, the phrase took on the meaning of "competitive struggle.” Webster’s Dictionary defines the phrase as the unpleasant life of people who have jobs that require them to work very hard in order to compete with others for money, power, status, etc.
We are not unfamiliar with this way of life. It has driven many to pursue money, objects, and power in order to fill this need in their lives… We’ve even seen it throughout literature…
Charles Dickens’ classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge shows a man that was obsessed with money… The posture of his heart at the beginning of the story was to have more money… He was consumed by his greed to the point that he was unable to see past it in order to see the damage it had done to himself and those around him for his own personal gain…
However, we were called to a different pursuit in this life… One where money and belongings no longer hold power or control over us… The author of Hebrews writes it this way:
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).
The love of money can drive us to hold onto it so tightly that we lose sight of who God has called us to be… To realize that it was all His to begin with and we only watch over it for a time… The pursuit of our lives can be about doing what God has called us to rather than how much we can gain. It gives us a chance to jump out of the rat race and allow God to guide our work life and finances. It is the pursuit of life that begins to work with an open hand that is available to His leading.
When we let Him do the leading in regard to our finances, we are able to learn the secret of contentment that rests in the promise that God will never leave us or forsake us. He promises to be there for us every step of the way. So let’s jump off the spinning wheel for a little and allow Him to lead the way.
According to the history of the phrase, The earliest known occurrence is 1934. In reference to aviation training a rat race was originally a "follow-the-leader" game in which a trainee fighter pilot had to copy all the actions performed by an experienced pilot. From 1945, the phrase took on the meaning of "competitive struggle.” Webster’s Dictionary defines the phrase as the unpleasant life of people who have jobs that require them to work very hard in order to compete with others for money, power, status, etc.
We are not unfamiliar with this way of life. It has driven many to pursue money, objects, and power in order to fill this need in their lives… We’ve even seen it throughout literature…
Charles Dickens’ classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge shows a man that was obsessed with money… The posture of his heart at the beginning of the story was to have more money… He was consumed by his greed to the point that he was unable to see past it in order to see the damage it had done to himself and those around him for his own personal gain…
However, we were called to a different pursuit in this life… One where money and belongings no longer hold power or control over us… The author of Hebrews writes it this way:
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).
The love of money can drive us to hold onto it so tightly that we lose sight of who God has called us to be… To realize that it was all His to begin with and we only watch over it for a time… The pursuit of our lives can be about doing what God has called us to rather than how much we can gain. It gives us a chance to jump out of the rat race and allow God to guide our work life and finances. It is the pursuit of life that begins to work with an open hand that is available to His leading.
When we let Him do the leading in regard to our finances, we are able to learn the secret of contentment that rests in the promise that God will never leave us or forsake us. He promises to be there for us every step of the way. So let’s jump off the spinning wheel for a little and allow Him to lead the way.
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