Wow, no one could believe they blew it! The U.S. sprint relay had dominated the world for years, but recently, with the help of Donovan Bailey, Canada has consistently beaten them. So at the World Championships this past summer, they dedicated themselves to beating Canada. Canada was on their thoughts. Canada was their primary competition. Canada consumed their practice focus.

    Only one problem. They had to GET to the finals to race against Canada to have a chance to beat them for the gold. But they were so preoccupied with beating Canada, they didn’t concentrate on their hand offs and blew it in the prelims—they dropped the baton and were disqualified!

…our focus must not be the enemy, but the Lord.

    We can learn a powerful lesson in this. While our enemy Satan is real, the goal of our waking thoughts as believers can’t be Satan. He may seek one of us to devour (1 Peter 5:8), but if we oppose him, he will run from us (James 4:7). He who is in us is greater than Satan (1 John 4:4). Through the cross, and our sharing in the cross at our baptism, Satan’s ability to control and defeat us is gone as long as we are trying to live with Jesus as our Lord and Savior (Colossians 1:21-23; 2:9-15).

    You see, our focus must not be the enemy, but the Lord (Hebrews 3:1; 12:1-3). Now I’m not saying we should downplay the power of Satan the great and evil Deceiver. I’m just reminding us of what our focus is—being strong in the Lord and in his mighty power! (Ephesians 6:10-19). I’ve run into people who are so consumed with Satan and his angels they forget their victory over Satan, sin, and death through Jesus. If we let our attention, our energy, and our discipleship focus on the Evil One, then we’ll end up dropping the baton, too!

    Jesus is our victorious King. He absorbed Satan’s death blow, rose from the dead as Victor, and lives today to insure we can triumph, too! So rather than letting our opposition distract us from the prize, let’s do all we can to grow in the Lord and make ourselves fit for his service. When the time to run the race comes, we’ll not only be ready, we’ll be victorious.