How to Share Your Faith Using The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race is part team-building psychology, part travelogue, part competitive challenge, part gross-out factor. As one of the granddaddies of reality TV, even after 13 seasons, The Amazing Race still entertains.
Like other reality TV, the entertainment value of The Amazing Race is often directly proportional to the personal drama involved. As the show's two-person teams race around the world to perform a variety of tasks and beat out their competition, sparks sometimes fly when team members feel the pressure and must move quickly on decisions about the most successful strategies and "how to's" involved in the latest destination and task assignment.
The successful competitors tend to consist of team players who are focused, purposeful and highly motivated. And those are the same attributes that can help not just in The Amazing Race, but as we run the race of life that God has set before us.
You may recall from the Bible that there were many times the Apostle Paul compared the Christian life to a race. Here's how he puts it in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27:
Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
Running the race with purpose and endurance is what it's all about. And one of the purposes God has laid out before us in our race of life is to share His Good News with others. Are you focused, purposeful and highly motivated when it comes to sharing your faith with your friends? Running to win means we must be disciplined, trained and determined in our efforts to tell our friends about Jesus.
So the next time you have the opportunity to bring The Amazing Race up in conversation, try using it as a jumping off point for talking with your friends about running the race of life that God has set before us. Here are some ideas to help you get the conversation moving in a spiritual direction:
- Do you like watching The Amazing Race? Why or why not?
- Why do you think some teams are highly successful and others fail miserably? What's your theory on the recipe for success?
- Does life ever seem like a race to you? With Detours, U-Turns, Roadblocks and Yields?
- If life's like a race, how do you know where you're supposed to be going?
- Where do you turn for the Route Information you need about life? Listen, then share how your relationship with God gives your life purpose and direction.
- Where do you turn when you hit tough patches? Listen, then share what you've learned about clinging to God in the good times and the bad.
Maybe the most amazing thing about the race of life we're running is that if we're believers, we are on Jesus' team! Let your friends know that Jesus is inviting them to join His team as well.
