Rejecting the Rat Race
WILL YOU TURN AROUND OR RUN WITH THE REST?
Beep, beep, beep. The all-too-familiar sound of the alarm clock jolts you awake and thus begins the game of, “How quickly can I shut this thing off?” After laying around for longer than necessary, you roll out of bed and throw on some clothes. You grab a mug of coffee from the still-dripping pot and slip on your shoes for another day. By 9 am you’re already exhausted. You blame it on a lack of sleep, but this tiredness has been around for months now, maybe even years. You run through your to-do list for the day but still can’t help feeling like you’re behind. The day goes on, and your suspicion that everyone else but you know what they’re doing grows and grows. It looks like you’ve got a lot of work to do to compete with that. Nothing a little hard work can’t fix. You stifle your insecurity and put on a happy face. Fake it till you make it, right?
We’re living in an era of upgrades, and that seems to be fueling our already-present tendency to compare ourselves to other people. We always want more. New clothes. More clothes. A bigger house. A nicer car. The more and better stuff we have, the greater we think we look to other people. We tell ourselves if we can afford this or that, we should have it. Companies advertise how our lives would be better if we had their product or service, and we believe it. “Get more stuff, and you’ll feel superior.” “Build the life you want, and you’ll be happy.” So we replace what isn’t broken to get the newer, better version. We buy all we can to look better than those around us. We work hard, toughen up, and fight to be better than the next guy. Welcome to the rat race.
“Nobody wants to get to the end of their life and feel like it was all for nothing.”
The rat race is the endless, unpleasant pursuit of the next best thing. The phrase reduces us humans down to mere rats and represents our exhausting attempts to compete with others for power, money, and the best reputation. The rat race demands that we pour ourselves out, at any hour, for our jobs at the expense of the people we love. It says we must buy those, eat this, or have that for our lives to be satisfying. It is the tiresome, menial repetition of our daily lives that leaves us grouchy and with bags under our eyes. The rat race is our never-ending search for ultimate happiness.
Why It’s a Lie
Every now and then, we’re given slivers of the truth that this life (work, dinner, sleep, repeat) isn’t all there is. Quiet moments have a way of letting us experience a touch of eternity. Ever had that sense of wonder while gazing up at a canopy of stars? In a mix of awe and fear, we’re faced with how small our lives are in the grand scheme of things and it’s refreshing somehow. Don’t we all, in those quiet moments, realize we have a longing for our lives to mean something? Nobody wants to get to the end of their life and feel like it was all for nothing. Even if we don’t aspire for a life of fame or to earn a ton of money, we still want our life to count for something. We hope, deep down, that life has a purpose beyond the 80 or so (if we’re lucky) years we’ve got. The rat race has been humanity’s most desperate attempt to make our lives count, but it is exhausting, and it is failing us. We weren’t made to live and die in the rat race. We all know it.
For some people, it isn’t long before they realize the rat race of life won’t satisfy. With an inquisitive mind and adventurous soul, they move forward with a deep belief that life was made for something more, something bigger. They ambitiously search for the meaning of life. E.M. Forster called them “round characters” in his 1927 book, Aspects of the Novel. Round people are complex, soulful, fervent, and eager to learn. They surprise us in some way. They see that life is more than work and recreation. They’re ready to find out why they’re here, convinced there’s more to life than what meets the eye.
Then there are those who don’t think too hard about what comes next. They’re what Forster called “flat characters.” Comfortable and predictable, these characters stay the same and rarely, if ever, develop. I’m willing to argue that more of us fall into this category, and I’m also willing to lump myself into that camp more often than I’d like to admit. We might ponder the meaning of life every now and then but for the most part, we’re happy with our lives and don’t feel the need to change or think too far into the future. We just want to be happy. We don’t really need to worry about what happens when we die because, especially if we’re young, we’ve got time, don’t we? So, we accumulate. We pass the days away with work and food and family, buying all the things we want and can (or can’t) afford along the way. We don’t even realize we’re filling up our lives with things that don’t have eternal value. But eternity is a real thing. When we get to the end of our lives we won’t be taking a single thing with us. The rat race is a lie because it tricks us into thinking this life is the most important one to be living for.
“Life out of the rat race is this crazy upside-down world where those who are last become first (Matthew 20:16).”
Our Rescue from the Race
If all of our attempts at a truly satisfying life haven’t brought us the contentment we’re hoping for, it’s clear that the only solution has to come from Someone outside of the rat race. This Someone can’t be stuck in the mundane, repetitive lifestyle we find ourselves in. They must not be overcome by the same struggles we have. They must be strong enough to resist them. They must be Someone who knows what brings lasting fulfillment, and be able to say “no” to the things in life that don’t. Jesus is that Someone. He came to earth where the rats were and lived a perfect life in pursuit of things that were eternally worthy, like “love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23, ESV). He came down into the rat race and showed us an entirely new way. He showed us that a life lived in close relationship with God and serving other people is the most satisfying life we can have.
Jesus’ whole purpose was to rescue us out of our self-induced rat race. God planned for His death after He lived a perfect, sinless life, as a worthy sacrifice for you and I to be able to stand in God’s presence someday. God sees us scurrying about, looking for cheese in an attempt to build a happy life, all the while standing back with open arms, inviting us to know Him. Through a relationship with Jesus, we can be adopted as God’s kid, known and loved by Him, and made into someone entirely new. He’ll change your mind about things you thought you already made a final decision about. You might have lived your whole life on cheddar cheese and suddenly you’re taking a liking to Havarti. Our lives aren’t constrained by the rat race because we’re not looking for a reward for ourselves anymore. Our mission is to bring glory to God and to be used by Him to serve other people. We want to tell of the amazing God He is so that maybe others, too, will be brought into an eternal life with God, forever enjoying how good He is.
Life outside of the rat race, which is what Christians call living in God’s Kingdom, is not about pursuing the best life for yourself. Life out of the rat race is this crazy upside-down world where those who are last become first (Matthew 20:16). It’s where the highest calling is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is an awful lot (Mark 12:29-31). In this Kingdom, the meek are blessed (Matthew 5:5) and we’re told to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6). Living in the Kingdom means letting yourself be cheated (1 Corinthians 6:7), turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-40), and laying down your life for your friends (John 15:13). God’s remedy for the rat race is to give it up, to help everyone else succeed, and forget about yourself. That’s what Jesus did for us.
Fullness of Joy
David, who wrote many of the Psalms, knew the satisfaction of life with God: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11, ESV). David had discovered that his purpose in life was to know and be known by God. If you read about his life, you’ll learn that he definitely didn’t live out this relationship with God perfectly. Murder and adultery were involved, actually. David made a ton of mistakes that we might look at with judgmental eyes, and yet he is still referred to in the Bible as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). From David’s life and the life of Jesus’ first disciples in the New Testament, we see that living for God brings no guarantee of safety or success. But the knowledge of His love and what Jesus went through to be with us, brings the ultimate satisfaction we’re desperate for. Living our lives with eternity in mind brings peace and hope as we consider Who we will share eternity with when this life passes away.
We created the problem of the rat race when we lost sight of our purpose, but God, who made us, gave us a purpose before we were born. The rat race tells us that we can be satisfied by working hard for what we want and pursuing a happy life, but God wants more for us than the disappointment of a whole life spent trying things that won’t work. He doesn’t leave us to figure out life in the rat race. He gave us a way out. Which life are you going to live for, this one or the next?
“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” – 1 John 3:16, ESV