“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” —1 John 2:15

“Unrivaled: Earnhardt vs. Gordon” is a new documentary that highlights the 90s rivalry between NASCAR legends Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. Though the drivers were combatants on the track, they were friends outside their cars. The documentary contrasts their family backgrounds, driving styles, paint schemes and fashion sense. But perhaps the most polarizing aspect of their personas was that of their loyal fan bases. The film highlights how it was virtually impossible for fans to love one without hating the other.

As we run our race in life, there are things all around us that rival our relationship with Christ. This imagery is well portrayed by the writer of Hebrews: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2 ESV)

This exhortation reminds us that running our race with endurance involves a shedding of things that would hinder our growth, our progress, and our missional influence. Love for God and love for the world cannot coexist.

John wrote: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” This passage should not be taken as an extreme rejection of everything in the world, for “God… loved the world” (John 3:16), but rather a warning about attaching ourselves to pursuits, affinities, and idols that would rival our passion for God. John doesn’t demonize God’s whole created order, but gives examples of what a believer should guard against—“the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life.”

The world wants our love—that which dictates how we spend our time, our attention, and our money. It rivals God’s call on our lives to seek first His kingdom, to love Him with all of our being, and to serve others in generosity and compassion. Saint Augustine captured the heart of this when he prayed, “He loves thee too little who loves anything together with thee which he loves not for thy sake.”

Is there an affinity in your life right now that is rivaling your love for the Father? Your deliverance from that competitor begins, not so much in the effort of giving up this or that, but in seeing the world through God’s eyes—recognizing that everything opposed to God is under a death sentence. For “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

The more we fix our eyes on Jesus, the less our affection will be for those things that rival him. We can then say with the psalmist:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:25-26 NIV)

PRAYER

God, be my portion in this life and the one to come. There is nothing in this world that can compete with you. Let nothing rival my love for you and your kingdom. You have my heart, my vision, and my desires. I am wholly Yours. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Questions for Reflection and/or Family Discussion:

1. What makes TV commercials and advertisements so appealing?
2. Which of these three most clearly motivates the people you know: (1) the drive to meet their physical needs, (2) the drive to get things, or (3) the drive to succeed?
3. Why did John tell us not to love the world? (1 John 2:15-17)
4. What would you categorize as “the desires of the flesh,” “the desires of the eyes,” and “the pride of life”?
5. What in your life might be rivaling your love for the Father today? What steps can you take to find satisfaction in God over the things of the world?

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The Joe Gibbs Racing mission statement posted in their lobby says:

Our goal is to field for our sponsors and fans competitive race cars on a consistent basis with the goal of winning races and championships. Our expectation is that we will be able to see in our growth and success things that would never have been accomplished except by the direct intervention of God.

I like that. Congratulations Kyle Busch. Props to Joe Gibbs. But GLORY to God!

Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing racing team owned and operated by former Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, who first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991, and J. D. Gibbs, his son.

Headquartered in Huntersville, North Carolina, roughly 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Charlotte Motor Speedway, the team has amassed four Sprint Cup championships since the year 2000.

For the team’s first sixteen seasons, JGR ran cars from General Motors. During that period, the team won their three championships, two in Pontiac Grand Prixes and one in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Despite this, Joe Gibbs Racing announced during the 2007 season that they would be ending their arrangement with GM at the end of the year and begin running Toyotas the following season. This partnership would eventually bring Toyota their first Sprint Cup when Kyle Busch became champion in 2015.

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Loved this monologue by Jay Mohr at NASCAR’s Champions Week banquet!

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“I saw this really cool video that Ray Lewis did and he said, ‘Throughout my whole life I’ve been told that I’m not big enough, I’m not fast enough, I’m not strong enough and I don’t have what it takes,’ ” Keselowski said after getting out of his car. “I’ve used that as a chip on my shoulder that’s carried me through my whole career. It took ’til this year for me to realize, they’re right. I’m not big enough, fast enough, strong enough. No person is. Only a team can do that. And these guys up here [pointing to his team], they make me big enough, fast enough, strong enough to do anything we want to do.”

Without my team, I’m never big enough, fast enough, strong enough. This Thanksgiving, take time to thank those who are on your team!

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We live in a frenzied, multi-tasking society geared towards achievement and productivity. In that culture, relationships become superficial or fleeting at best. We lose our connectedness with people, faith, and our spirituality. We have constant media saturation giving us mixed and changing messages. We’re surrounded by an unstable society and a culture of no absolutes. People and their lives are fragmented. People are disoriented. They’re overly committed. They’re exhausted. There are too many ideas for people to handle. As a result, they have the inability to discern what is a good idea and what is a God idea. Focus and purpose are elusive.

Which brings us to a huge question with momentum: Where do I start? The first principle in developing God’s momentum in our lives involves clarity. We find clarity when we slow down for a greater run at the journey.

When we find God’s pace we can actually go faster (where and when it matters), further, and have greater impact by first slowing down.

Racecar drivers decelerate early in a turn in order to negotiate a turn with more ‘grip’, giving them greater acceleration off of a turn. It’s here that the car settles into the racing ‘groove’ and handles better for a longer run. But it starts with decelerating at the right place on the track as opposed to just running wide open around the oval. Many of us feel as if we are sliding all over the track. Life seems to have no steady grip. We don’t get momentum in areas very often because we haven’t properly decelerated to negotiate the journey.

We can actually go faster by slowing down. Days of Thunder is the story of a young, cocky kid from California who comes to Charlotte NC to join the NASCAR circuit. He has a ton of talent but doesn’t understand anything about a stock car. Cole Trickle is the driver (played by Tom Cruise) and Harry Hyde is his crew chief (played by Robert Duvall). Harry Hyde has the complicated task of taking this arrogant young racecar driver and teaching him how to win races. He already knows how to go fast, but he doesn’t understand how to slow down so that he can be faster over the course of a long race.

In the scene, the wise crew chief makes a deal with the younger driver to run 50 laps the way he is used to running, and then 50 laps the way that his crew chief wants him to drive. The result of running his own way ends with the tires all tore up and shredded with nothing left to race on. The result of running his crew chief’s way (slowing down to go faster) ends up not only preserving the life and grip of the tire rubber, but also causes him to be six seconds faster over the course of 50 laps.

I believe this is a great picture of what it means to run the race the world’s way vs. running the race God’s way. The world uses us up, saps our creative energies, burn us out, and then hangs us out to dry.

Corrie ten Boom once said, “Beware of the barrenness of a busy life.” I believe that it was originally a quote from Socrates, but at any rate, I believe there is much truth to it.

Now, more than ever, we need clarity in our lives. Centered on the imagery in Hebrews 12:1-3, I suggest four ways to find that clarity. It involves lessening your load, bringing the right things into focus, learning the rhythm of Christ, and practicing the discipline of waiting on God.

When we find clarity in our lives, we don’t just end up frantically busy, we begin to see lasting and sustainable momentum lived out in our lives. We go faster where it matters, we go further, and we have greater impact. But it starts with slowing down to go faster.

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