Tag Singapore Marathon

The Balancing Act for 2009

andrewong2024 4 Comments

At the beginning of this year, there were two areas- practical and financial that I felt led to prioritise on in regards to my walk with God.

There was a need to experience more of God’s promises and power in taking these two areas to the next level.

Two areas of growth

Growing practically meant that I needed to grow in my stature with my work towards being a person of value in the marketplace.

Simply because our work is also our God-given ministry and when we excel, God is made illustrious.

In terms of growing financially, I desire to be a better steward with what God has entrusted me with.

I believe as Christ-followers, we need not only need to adopt a kingdom mentality, but be faithful with our finances.

This does not mean we merely hoard or maintain our finances at a certain level, but we need to be actively mulitplying our resources.

With more, we are able to do more. We are able to readily invest and give towards worthy causes that addresses the practical needs of people around us in extending God’s love.

A shift in priorities of growth

After crossing the first-half of this year, upon evaluating, I can gratefully say that these two areas have met their set goals in an unprecedented manner with His divine and undeserving favour upon my life.

Upon evaluating, I sensed that the next course of His direction for me will be to balance the other aspects of my life by prioritising the spiritual and physical areas.

In regards to my spiritual growth, I have made a firm decision to start serving more regularly in my cellgroup’s worship team.

I believe this will further anchor my spiritual roots and keep me under His divine covering as He launches me deeper into the marketplace.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Mahatma Gandhi

I also believe that servant leadership is only best cultivated and understood  by actually doing it.

No amount of reading or knowledge of servant leadership can transform you into a servant leader. You must just do (serve) it.

Racing towards the end

Physically, let’s just say that I recently discovered that I am in bad shape.

I think my body’s condition has dropped to a state of lethargic-ness or even ‘sloppiness’. Ha ha…

To get back in shape, I have signed up for the Singapore Marathon 21km run in December. Doing this, I’m now ‘forced’ to embark on my personal weekly running regime.

I’m confident with God, this year will end even more glorious than the previous year. And I’m going all the way!

Looking Onwards, Running Forward

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With all the attention on the Singapore’s inaugural F1 Night Race, many other Singaporeans like myself are also gearing up for annual Singapore Marathon by Standard Chartered in December.

Like any marathon, staying ahead and to keep on keeping on is the challenge. Ask any veteran and they will agree that besides stamina, the real battle is in the mind in focusing on the finishing line.

Life is like a marathon

Ever wonder how easy it is to slow down when you see others behind you when you’re ahead? Or how tempting it is to give up with the many excuses that arises at the half-way point?

If you follow on, I think you will agree with me that running a marathon is so parallel to our journey in life. For instance, when our culture in general accepts pre-marital sex, isn’t it easy to give in to the crowd and lower our moral standards?

In the marketplace where integrity may not be highly practice and compromised for quick personal promotion, isn’t it easy for us to conform in order not to lose out?

In our Christian community, we may also start to look at our peers and conclude that since most are not serving or obeying God around me, then it is alright that I don’t to either.

Running with excellence

Like running in a marathon, in life we need to look onwards and keep going forward. Allowing complacency to creep in would prove detrimental. And to focus, requires a much needed paradigm shift.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2

Instead of choosing to look at those around us or behind us, we need to learn how to tune our focus on a leader who is setting a high standard. In the case of moral and godly excellence, we have Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as we run this marathon of faith in our lives, let’s not aim low or live our faith in mediocrity by following the majority- the wide gate (c.f. Matthew 7:13).

Today, choose to set a high standard by fixing our eyes on Jesus who has ran ahead of us for us to follow.