I love Aesop’s Fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare”. It is most often read as a children’s story. Yet, it also has many adult applications even for Christians. The confident, type-A rabbit was always boasting that he was faster than anything in the forest often ridiculing the slow moving tortoise. I’m sure all of us know a ‘rabbit’ in your workplace or church. Finally, tired of all the bragging, the tortoise challenged him to a race. On race day, the spectators said, “What a joke! We wasted our time even coming to this event!” Well, you know the end of the story. The overconfident rabbit stopped, took a nap, ate breakfast, and then took another nap. When he finally awoke, all he could see was the tortoise about to cross the finish line.
This story has brought me a lot of encouragement even in my Christian journey. The caption of my high school Annual read ‘no honors sought’. I admit I have never been out for positions, titles, or honors. Most of my ministry peers have taken that as a negative part of my personality and warned me that I MUST change. When I interviewed for my first denominational credentials, I found myself among a group of aggressive type-A ‘rabbits’ ready to single-handedly reach the entire world with the Gospel. I wondered the whole day if I should even be there. The same was true when we arrived at Bible College. I asked myself why I was even there with people who were so ambitious. I knew I could never be like them. In fact, I didn’t even want to be like them. I believed I would never be a successful minister. But, I kept plodding along doing what the LORD directed me to do. I think that was about the time I remembered the story of the tortoise and the hare.
The sad part of this personal illustration is the fact that many of the ‘rabbits’ that once intimidated me aren’t even in the ministry today. Some are working secular jobs and merely attend church. I’ve learned of others who have fallen into sin and aren’t serving the LORD any longer. I’ve also known a few fellow-tortoises. I wrote about one last week. He’s now the Bishop of a denomination for an entire nation. Another good friend has served as a missionary in Africa for over thirty years. He’s never received great honors or positions—he and his wife are just plain-vanilla missionaries. Yet, they have served in difficult and dangerous areas where others wouldn’t venture. They have slowly but consistently inched along training a few young men and women each year. Many of these trainees have quietly relocated into Muslim countries in the Middle-East where no Western missionary could ever go.
This lesson of consistent and steady advancement applies to almost every aspect of Christian discipline. I’ve known a countless number of believers who don’t pray and read the Bible because all they have ever heard is that they must pray an hour every morning. I always tell them that I’d rather they consistently pray and read the Bible five minutes a day, than feel guilty and do nothing. Religious ‘rabbits’ can be intimidating. They tend to get a lot of attention because they make themselves so vocal and visible. One important lesson I’ve learned from my years of ministry is the most unnoticed Christians are usually the strongest and most reliable believers in a church. They don’t make a lot of noise or give a grand display. They, like the tortoise, just keep plodding along day after day.
Solomon tells us that the race is not to the swift (Ecclesiastes 9.11). I’ve discovered many applications for this fable when I researched to write this. The one I like best is this—“the one who moves steadily though slow, is never a looser.” That’s why we say, “Slow and steady, wins the race.” Paul used the metaphor of a race in his last letter to Timothy; I have finished the [race] course (2 Tim 4:7)
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Finish the race! Don’t let the ‘rabbits’ intimidate you. Determination, hard work, and steady progress will get you across the finish line.