Eyes On The Prize

I am a hockey fan. I love the game. The energy, the intensity, the passion.

The playoffs just bring it all to a whole new level of perfection.

I’m not one of these band wagon jumpers or only a fan during the playoffs...

I bleed blue and green!

The Vancouver Canucks are my team. WE ARE ALL CANUCKS.

Can you imagine what a hockey game would look like if there weren’t any nets? All the other rules and regulations would stay the same, but just no nets. The defence would still try tirelessly to clear the zone and the forwards would still continue the cycle game in the corner. Big open ice hits would be thrown and the players would be stick-handling the puck all over the ice. The goalie would still be in his crease, but with nothing to guard.

With no nets, the game would transform from a battle between two teams trying to score on one another, to a glorified figure skating exhibition without judges.

Without nets, the game of hockey becomes pointless.

All the stick-handling in the world will get you nowhere. Puck possession doesn’t win games, scoring goals does.

When you take away the objective of the game it loses all of its purpose.

The same thing goes for our lives. We need purpose. We need to know what we are playing for, what we are living for. Or else we are just skating around wasting time, waiting for the final horn to sound on our lives.

1 Corinthians 9:24-26

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.

It would be silly to see a race happen that didn’t have a finish line. Where are the runners running to? And for how long? If everyone is running around aimlessly, who wins? What’s the point?

Can you picture what a boxing match would look like if the fighters keep throwing punches but not a single one of them land? They are literally just beating up the air. Who wins? What’s the purpose?

I want to live with purpose. I want to make my punches count.

God calls us to live with purpose, to live with a goal and with the prize in perspective. Our prize is eternity. It’s life forever with Jesus in Heaven.

Today be encouraged to live your life with eternity in perspective. Let’s not get caught up in the stick-handling of life, focusing on the things that don’t fulfill our purpose: pursuing fame, chasing down wealth, and living for our own selfish desires. Let’s live in such a way as to be worthy of the calling we’ve received, let’s live our lives with our eyes on the prize.