The Edge

Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh are locked in a battle for making the US Olympic team for the 100 meters. I watched with amazement the women’s 100 meter final at the Olympic trials this week as these two athletes finished tied for third place. The top three finishers will go to the Olympic games, so whoever prevails goes to London, the loser goes home. At first it was assumed that there was a 1000^th of a second difference between the two, but the official photo finish taken at 3,000 frames a second shows both of the women’s torsos crossing the line at the same instant. This weekend there will be a runoff race between them.

This race had to be reset due to a false start because one racer’s finger had crossed the line prior to the starter’s gun being fired. At first that didn’t seem significant, it was only a little finger! But when you view it in terms of the tie these two women ended in one can see that an advantage of any kind can make the difference.

You and I are locked in a battle of greater significance, it is the warfare for our salvation. There is an edge that is available to us that we must take advantage of, and it will determine the winners and losers:

Evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:13-17 (New International Version)

Let’s look carefully at these verses. Evil people and imposters are spiraling down (going from bad to worse and being deceived) while righteous people are rising up. What are the distinguishing characteristics between the two?

Evil people are deceived. They wrongly assume the way they have taken in life is correct and they lead others down their perverse path. But let’s focus on what righteous people do to win…

First, they continue in what they have learned. Continue is the Greek word “menō” . It means to abide. It is a state of relationship. It is the same word that Jesus used in John 15 when He commanded us to abide in Him. So, Paul says our edge is to continue (abide) in what we have learned and been convinced of.

Convinced. It seems some people are not completely convinced of the things they believe, starting up their walk with God and then pulling back, dropping out of the race. So what keeps a person convinced?

Paul gives two keys. The first is to follow the godly example of others. Paul told Timothy that he knew those who he had learned from. You will follow the influential people around you. Choose wisely who holds sway in your life. You will mirror their values and practices. If you select godly people as your influencers you will imitate their ethics and ideals, their faith. If you unwisely choose ungodly people (the deceived ones going from bad to worse) you will follow their path, being deceived.

The second key is the scriptures. Sure, this may seem cliché-ish, you hear it all the time…”read your Bible and meditate on it”. Let me urge you not to take this for granted. Paul says here that the scriptures are “useful” for training in righteous living. “Useful” means “to give the advantage”. So what is being said is that the scriptures in your life gives you the edge in living by teaching, rebuking, correcting and training.

The end result is that you will be completely equipped, ready to do every good work that God has in mind for you. That’s finishing the race strong.

So, we have the edge in life. Are you living on the downward spiral or the upward edge?

Who’s influencing you? Do you need to make a change in this area?

Are you being fed daily on the scriptures, or are you anemically trying to run life’s race?

What needs to change now to get the advantage in your favor? Doing so makes the difference between winning and losing, going forward to not.