How Far? How Fast? How’s Your Form?
These are the kinds of questions we tend to ask each other—sometimes out loud and sometimes without even realizing it.
If you’re a runner, people may want to know: How far do you run? How fast can you run a mile? And if they’re really interested, they may even want to know how your form looks.
But those questions aren’t just about running. In one way or another, we ask them about almost everything.
How far? How long have you been at your job? How old are you? How much have you accomplished?
How fast? How quickly did you get there? How much do you make? How busy are you? How much can you handle?
And then there’s form: How well are you actually doing what you’re doing? What does it look like? How are you doing it?
We can easily find a sense of personal glory in the first two questions:
How far? How long? How old?
How fast? How much? How strong? How busy?
We tend to measure ourselves—and sometimes one another—by our accomplishments, our productivity, our longevity, and our capacity.
But I think God is often much more interested in our form.
What are you doing when no one is looking?
How well do you keep your word—to others and to yourself?
Are you willing to put in the effort to learn how to do things correctly and well?
What kind of person are you becoming while you are doing all the things you are doing?
We would all like to go far. We want to live long, accomplish meaningful things, and persevere through difficult circumstances.
We would all like to go fast, too. We want to be strong, productive, capable, and successful.
And there is nothing wrong with working hard to develop our abilities and make the most of what God has given us.
But here’s the interesting thing: how far and how fast we can go are not completely within our control.
God has created each of us differently. We have different gifts, abilities, opportunities, limitations, seasons, and circumstances. Some of those things are simply beyond our control.
But our form—the way we live, the way we respond, the way we treat people, the way we handle what God has entrusted to us—is something we can continually bring before Him.
God may not hold us responsible for how far or how fast we go, but He does care about how we go.
So perhaps we should pay a little more attention to our “form.”
Consider these words:
Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Gentleness. Faithfulness. Self-control. Character. Integrity. Discipline. Humility. Confidence. Hope.
Which ones describe your life right now?
And which ones make you just a little uncomfortable?
If something on that list brings conviction, don’t become overwhelmed or discouraged. Simply stop and agree with God about what He is showing you. Ask Him for His help. Ask Him to fill you in that specific area.
As we submit ourselves to the truth of Scripture and cooperate with the promptings and power of the Holy Spirit, something remarkable happens: the life of Christ is formed in us.
And that is the real goal—not simply to go farther or faster, but to become more like Him along the way.
Paul expressed this desire in Galatians 4:19: “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…”
May the life of Christ be formed in you—so that whatever distance you travel, whatever pace you keep, and whatever you accomplish, your life reflects the One who gave it to you.
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