Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A Lesson On the Run

















One summer during high school, my family and I would get up really early and go walking/running at a nearby track. Even though I was athletic, I HATED having to get up so early and participate in physical activity...I had just finished a school year full of sports..I wanted a break!

One morning in particular I was feeling extremely sluggish and I was in a horrible mood...I wanted my comfy bed!

To make matters worse, I kept getting lapped by this really old man in short running shorts...

I think I threw myself a pity party during lap 4...it didn't help...I was still tired, and I was still getting lapped by the old guy with short shorts.

Toward the end of my pity party, I slowed down my pace and longingly looked across the track to another runner that was passing the point I needed to be at to finish my run. I remember saying out loud, "I wish I was where that person is right now!"

Then out of nowhere, the Holy Spirit brought a thought to my mind.

You see, I'd been struggling with my spiritual walk; I felt like I was a horrible person and was of no use to God. I had a bad habit (and sometimes still do) of wishing I had the faith of every other Christian around me. I constantly compared my walk with the walk of others and wished I could be where they were spiritually...I was too lazy to put in the work myself.

So what was it that I felt the Holy Spirit was trying to say to my sluggish soul (and body) that day? "Stop wishing you were somewhere else in your walk, or that you were another person altogether." I had to realize that all Christians are at different points in their walk, and that to grow in my own personal relationship with Christ, I had to walk the walk myself and not sit by and just wish I was closer to God, or wish I was crossing a particular line on the "track" of spiritual growth.

After that shocking realization of my own spiritual sluggishness, I decided to step it up and quickly found myself crossing the line that brought an end to my run for the day. I was exhausted physically, but spiritually I had been energized to get back on track and run the race set before me, looking only to Jesus this time as my Standard and not to others.

"...and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith..." Hebrews 12:1b-2a

1 comment:

  1. What a great post. Thanks for encouraging me today. :)

    ReplyDelete

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