Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. 1 Corinthians 9:24 (NLT) 

Many Christians live their lives as if it’s a lottery system. They hope someday their lucky number will be called and they will win big. Unfortunately it is not true. To win you have to run the race of life according to God’s guidelines.

In God’s kingdom everybody has equal opportunity. We don’t all have the same gifts, education, or background, but with God it doesn’t matter. His equality of opportunity is He wants to work through you to make up the difference. God has given you everything you need if you’ll work and seek Him out..

Here is one trait about winners I want to share with you today:

Winners Compete With Themselves, They Don’t Compete With Others

Measure yourself against God’s will for your life and not how well you are doing against others. If you measure yourself against others you may beat them, but you will lose with God.

Instead ask what can I do to be a better husband, a better father, a better pastor, a better business person, what can I do to bring God more Glory, to get God’s word out there more, what can I do?  Constantly ask yourself, “What is God’s will for my life in these areas first and not what everybody else thinks.” At your judgment you will not be compared to others but the standard God has for you.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) 

Trust me, you will not care about anybody else at the Judgement. When you compete with others you are placing the control and destiny of your life into their hands, because where they go, you go instead of where God wants you to go.

To compete with others one of two things are going to happen. Your going to lose in comparison to them and your going to get envious and frustrated. If you do better than them, then your going to get prideful, there’s no two ways about it. So either one of them is wrong.

Do what God asks you to do to the best of your ability and that is all God asks you to do. Leave others and their will to God. Only look out for yourself and what you are doing. If you do this in the end you will win!

Go run your race and win!