“You have been created with a capacity to excel in whatever you do…”
Recently, during the 2018 Grand National, I developed an interest in getting know more about the past legends in the history of the Festival at Aintree. I am of the opinion that being a champion in this has a lot to do with possessing some outstanding personal attributes. Delving into a research, dating back to 1839, I stumbled on the video recorded on the 31st of March, 1973 during the festival. Red Rum, one of the legends in the history of Grand National, approached the finishing line in the first of his three victories in Grand National History. The adrenaline in me caught a sudden reaction from the aggressive way the horse came from behind Crisp, an Australian chaser, and headed for the touch-line few seconds to the end of the race. Due to this remarkable performance, Red Rum beat Crisp by three-quarters of a length in a then-record time of 9 min 1.9 sec. Also, he almost beat the 20 seconds off Golden Miller’s past record under 12th 2lb in the 1934 Grand National Festival. It was a landmark that Red Rum’s new record of performance, then, was not beaten for 16 years even after his retirement.
Bred for Maximum Performance
You have been created and wired with a capacity to excel in whatever you do. God created you for His glory, and He then built in you, a high-performance box, which you personally need to open and begin to experience optimal performances in whatever you choose to engage in. The key to this box in your hands, but you reserve the sole rights and responsibility to make the initial advances in fulfilling the vision of God. Jesus Christ left His glory in heaven and came down in form of man, to die, atoning for your sins, in order for you and I to live a life of freedom, excellence, peace, prosperity, and love. All have been paid for by God…in His love and then offering you a free gift of grace.
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire”. (2 Peter 1:3-4).
Discipline Precedes Winning
Watching very closely, Noel Le Mare, the owner of Red Rum, constantly used the whip on this famous horse. I discovered that this action gave a major boost to the horse’s performance, and even brought out the maximum performance in him. The harder he used the whip on the horse, the faster he moved and this was really evident in the way and manner Red Rum won the Grand National, which held in 1973.
Are you disciplined in the way you live your life? Is your life an epitome of self-discipline and caution? It was possible for Red Rum to react negatively as the owner whipped him, and run off the track or decide not to jump the fences…who would have lost? Red Rum of course! All attention was on him, and not on the owner. Are you accepting God’s discipline positively? How do you yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the instructions of God? “Because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son”. (Hebrews 12:6). This is just a display of the invaluable love of Jesus Christ towards you.
A lot has been deposited inside of you, and so, you are a high-valued-being in the hands of God. Hence, He chose to bring the best out of you. One of the ways to be fulfilled is to keep your hopes and dreams alive as you face the days ahead. The pains that were inflicted on Red Rum were like steroids in his blood, as he leveraged on the pains from whips, eventually becoming successful and a world megastar in his days. From now, begin to see the pains of today as a catalyst to the fulfilment of your goals and aspirations, and this ushers you into a new season of excellent performance in your life.
The Free Grace in Christ Jesus
Having walked in darkness for a significant number of years, and the Jesus decided to adopt me into His marvelous light, I have come to a deep understanding of the nature of His free grace, and nothing can be compared with it. Not work, nor working extremely hard to be righteous, but clinging unto His grace by faith, in Jesus Christ. Paul has this to say in one of his epistles:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast”. (Ephesians 2:8-9).
“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law, we become conscious of our sin. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”. (Romans 3:20-24).
