Running with purpose

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. (I Corinthians 9:25-27)

This walk with Jesus might intimidate some, but you don't need to be afraid to really 'get into it'. God never asked us to just 'show up' - he always asked for our best and our first. You and I may have been 'trying' to walk as we should for way too long - 'trying' but not really hitting the mark. Just doing our 'best' hasn't proven to be enough to get us to the goal line. We need to stop trying and really just put some effort into training!

Trying is where we start, but a 'trial period' doesn't produce consistent results, does it? We must invest in the 'training' that is required in order to grow up in Jesus. Half-hearted attempts may get us moving in the right direction, but they lack the commitment that will get us 'all the way' to the finish line. The difference between trying and training is simple - when only trying, we give up when we no longer feel the motivation! An athlete trains with intention and intensity. Emotions may tell us to quit, but the athlete, being committed to his training, will 'train on' even when the emotions are drained.

Fight for what truly matters. Training is for a purpose - to be all that God calls us to be. Our mindset must change from just trying to training for the long haul. When we train, we find we do some things today, but those 'things' actually are helping us develop what we will need for our training tomorrow. If you want to think of this in a spiritual sense, training is merely what scripture refers to as 'faithfulness'. An athlete sets goals and then takes the steps toward each goal. It isn't to run a marathon today - it is to run a block, then two, then a mile, until he is able to run the half-marathon. As he trains, he develops the strength and stamina for the race. 

Remember this - trying is something we do for the short term; training is what we do when we want to go all the way with Jesus. Training is actually helping you and I become more of what we already are - redeemed, whole, and living with a purpose in mind. Just sayin!

A bit of training required?

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. (Psalm 143:10) 

I am one who needs a lot of 'teaching' when it comes to doing God's will. Make no bones about it - we choose our own way over God's way and then find ourselves working our way back to the way he asked us to go anyway, so why do we do it? When we stop to consider how 'hard' it seems to find and walk in God's will at times, we might just have to admit how insanely hard it is to walk our way back into his will once we have decided to go our own way! That 'hardness' in choosing righteousness isn't by accident - it might just show how 'willing' we are to put God first in our lives, even when it isn't the easiest thing to do! It may not seem like it at first, but those who choose to rebel against the will of God will endure a hard ending. We might think they are enjoying life now, but I don't suspect they will enjoy it much into eternity when they find themselves facing God's judgment and their eternal damnation!

If you have ever owned a dog, you might have experienced the phenomenon I refer to as 'being walked by the dog' rather than you walking the dog. The leash is firmly attached to the collar, the dog bounds out ahead of you, going this way and that, sniffing everything in its path, and there you are being 'drug along' behind as though you were the one being walked! The dog is just behaving like a dog - it must be trained to not pull, come alongside willingly, and not follow after every stray scent in its path. I imagine it is kind of like that at times with us and God. We get out ahead of him, pulling this way and that, 'sniffing at' everything that comes along our path, not even looking back to see that God isn't at all pleased with our willful disobedience. Whenever he puts us through periods of 'training' in our lives, it isn't because he doesn't like us or that he is mad at us. It is because he knows how much more enjoyable the walk will be if we come alongside and fall in stride with him!

The dog who has been through obedience training isn't 'whipped' into obedience. They are encouraged to follow commands and then they are rewarded when they do. Is the reward always something they expected, like a piece of kibble? No, sometimes it is a bit of praise, a scratch behind the ears, or a ruffling of their neck fur. He soon realizes how much pleasure it seems to bring his master. The reward is encouragement to dig a bit deeper to obey the next command. When the dog finally learns there is great reward in following the commands, they just do it because they know it brings pleasure to their master. I wonder if we were presented with God's commands today if we'd heed them simply because we know God will find pleasure in the closeness it brings us into with him, or if we are expecting some kind of 'reward' each time we obey? Just askin!

You can use this?

I think it was Norman Vincent Peale who reminded us it is always too soon to quit. There are a lot of things we chase after in life, sometimes quitting just short of ever achieving whatever it is we are chasing after. We chase after a lot of things in life, but I have come to the conclusion not all of them are really worth chasing. Sometimes we chase stuff which brings us grief and disappointment - not exactly the best outcome, huh? This chasing is a part of a much deeper issue - we lack satisfaction or contentment, so we 'chase' and 'chase' and 'chase'. Contentment is a state of being "at ease" in our mind, soul, and spirit. We don't need activity because we are already at rest. Sometimes ceasing is the best remedy to chasing! Satisfaction really is that deeper sense of being grateful - fulfilled in what we have and who we are.

Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. (I Corinthians 14:1)

Today we will look at the importance of pursuing the right stuff - in turn, that pursuit will bring us into a place of contentment like nothing else in this lifetime ever can. It is in the giving of ourselves to the gifts God gives us that we find our greatest place of contentment (fulfillment). Before you tell me you don't have any "gifts" or "talents", let me assure you - you have talents and gifts way beyond your imagining! Too many times, we limit ourselves by the belief we don't possess the "right stuff" to do what it is God is asking us to do. We often don't know the "talent" God may need in a particular moment or circumstance - but he does. If he places us smack dab in the middle of the need - we must have something he desires to be used in serving to meet the need! In reviewing our "spiritual gifts" we often discount the very "practical gifts" we have been given, such as our talent to balance a set of accounting books, the ability to proof a term paper, the skill to teach tough subjects, or the awesome ability to make people feel very welcomed in a group.

We somehow think the "spiritual gifts" God is looking for are all these "mystical" gifts like the "word of knowledge" or the "prophesying" of a new revelation to the church. As important as these gifts are, the most important gift we have to offer Christ is ourselves - complete with every "natural talent" we have. In turn, God takes what we consider "natural" and turns these into something he considers "super-natural". When we are in service with the talents we possess, he is honored! We are to "go after" a life of love as if our "lives depended on it". We are left with no doubt here - our life depends upon our pursuit of all God has for us. When we are "going after" something, there is a tenacity (a stick-to-it kind of attitude). We don't want to give up without the reward of what we are pursuing. A life of service may not seem like much of a 'pursuit', but the results are telling.

I wonder just how much we'd be blessed in blessing others with the simple talents we possess? You may be excellent readers - have you ever considered reading to the blind or elderly with failing vision? I know my mother enjoyed it when my sister sat lazily by on the sofa, book in hand, and shared the stories from the Reader's Digest with her. You may be able to herd cats - maybe your toddler's church class could use your talent! You might be able to make a mean cup of coffee - perhaps the ladies need a safe-place for a mom's group. You may be able to teach - there are hundreds of parents having to work through hybrid school right now with no idea how to do this 'new math'. Whatever you possess - give it! You might just be surprised at what God can do with the "simplest" of talents! 

God really wants us to focus on giving what it is we have - not bemoaning the fact we don't have a "particular gift" to give - like the one someone else is giving already. In other words, he doesn't want us to focus so much on what we "don't" have as much as focus on what it is we "do" have. In the giving of ourselves to what it is we recognize as a "talent", "trained area", or "natural bent" we might have, God can bring forth the "spiritual" blessing of our "gift" as it touches the lives of those around us. Don't make too much of the word "gift" - instead, allow God to use you as the need "fits" your temperament and training. Pick up the hammer, drive a few nails, and see what he allows to be built! You might just be surprised to find in the nail hammering, lives are touched! Just sayin!

Hand me the pick-ax

Undeterred - not able to be restrained from action. Wouldn't most of us like to say our walk with Jesus is rather "undeterred" - there is nothing that distracts us, keeps us from moving forward, or discourages us in our pursuit of right-living? Truth be told, there are a whole lot of things that 'deter' us each and every day - most of which we have total control over! The commission given to the disciples was to "go", followed closely by "train". Both are significant action words - one suggesting we don't remain stagnant, firmly planted somewhere, not moving - while the other signifies a specific course of action. My BFF is bilingual and she often attempts to help me gain a little bit of conversational Spanish along the way. My Spanish is helpless! It is as though my mind has a barrier to retaining this stuff! She aptly points out that I have no problem learning something new when it comes to Excel database writing, so why do I have a road-block to learning Spanish? I think it has to do with the 'action' I invest in the pursuit! Much of what we realize in life is because of some action - we take steps toward something and we begin to see the progress made with each step. Many of us stop way short of the progress we should be making, simply because we don't take the next step!

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 MSG)

Where would we be today if the disciples just stopped short of their commission? The first churches wouldn't have been planted. The first missionaries wouldn't have carried the message outside of the city gates. The 'first' always marks the beginning - the hope is that their will always be a 'next'. Thomas Edison said, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Sad truth, but the truth nonetheless. We often don't 'go' because it involves work. We don't 'train' because it is kind of hard to learn some of this stuff ourselves. We have a preconceived idea about how opportunity comes our way in life - we think silver platter, while God thinks 'get out the pick-ax'. We want it all when it comes to the blessings, but weare seldom comfortable getting out of our comfort zone when the blessing requires a little effort on our part!

While I know this passage is about the 'Great Commission' - the sending out of the disciples to make converts of many - I also think it applies to our everyday life. We need to see the pattern of go and train. As we go, we are learning. As we take action, results begin to follow. As we go, others are encouraged by our progress. It is a cycle - one goes, another is touched, now two are going, and so on. We don't 'go' alone. In just that same way, we aren't expected to learn the life lessons alone - we are guided into learning, but there is effort on our part to learn. We are given the tools, but we have to take them up and use them. I have lots of gardening tools, but my garden doesn't reflect anything about these tools until they are used. It may not reveal it was a pick-ax that loosened the soil beneath the surface, but without that pick-ax, the soil would be impenetrable. Without hard work, we might just not get 'trained' in the things God wants us to know and experience in life. Just sayin!

Okay, help!

"Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." (Winston Churchill)

2 They will help you learn to be wise, to accept correction, and to understand wise sayings. 3 They will teach you to develop your mind in the right way. You will learn to do what is right and to be honest and fair.4 These proverbs will make even those without education smart. They will teach young people what they need to know and how to use what they have learned. (Proverbs 1:2-4 ERV)

I am like Churchill - love learning, but sometimes kind of slow in the "being taught" realm! The stuff we are the slowest to learn can become the biggest and most rewarding lessons of our lives, though. As we look back over some of those lessons, we might find ourselves amazed at how God so faithfully kept teaching until we finally realized the truth he wanted us to see. It may just be the truth he wanted us to see was the ugliness of some sin in our lives - these are the hardest lessons for me to personally learn. Most of the time these are the things I'd rather sweep under the rug than to admit they need to be dealt with, but God isn't content to just let me skate by with a "well I tried to tell her" kind of answer!

We wouldn't want God to be slack in any manner when it comes to providing for our needs, helping us out when we need clarity, or opening doors for us when we have been trying to get something accomplished in our lives. Why would we want him to stop being as "attentive" to us, or show less concern in the areas where we need to have truth worked into our lives? We cannot have a double standard - either we want to know him fully, or we don't. There just isn't any chance that God is going to let us get away with areas of our lives where we are less than obedient. He will maintain his "teaching" until we begin to understand and embrace the lesson being taught.

Sometimes the lesson is sacrifice, at others it may be forgiveness. There are times the lesson isn't all that hard to learn, it is just that we don't always "want" to learn the lesson right then and there. It isn't that we don't need to learn it, it is that we aren't ready to let go of whatever we have been struggling with and let him help us figure it out. When I finally raised my hand as a kid in school, admitting I needed the teacher's help to understand a tough equation or find a solution to a troubling word problem, it opened the door to me actually seeing how to figure it out. It often takes us admitting we need to rely upon him a little in that area of our lives where we most need his training in order to open us up to receiving that help! Just sayin!

Don't lecture me

I saw a quote once that remarked about our parents having taught us everything we know. The problem stipulated in the quote was that those same parents didn't teach us everything THEY knew! This is so true of parenting - we teach our kids and teach them again - only to realize somewhere down the road we haven't remembered to teach them something we learned at some earlier point in our lives. As a grandparent, one of the advantages I have is that of being "quieter" in my living - able to observe with a power of insight I didn't take the time to stop to share when I was younger. As a parent, I was busy, busy, busy - especially since I was doing this alone! Now that I am a grandparent, it is as though I can just enjoy the time I have with the grandchildren without having all those external factors weighing in on me - at least most of the time!

Teach a child how to follow the right way; even when he is old, he will stay on course. (Proverbs 22:6 VOICE)

I used to think this verse "insured" us parents our children would always follow the Lord, never deviate from their faith, avoid sin, and find the best of acquaintances who would help them stay "on course" in their life.  Just teaching a child "how to follow" doesn't always ensure they will follow, but I do think it lays the foundation for there to always be some sense of "inner-niggling" whenever they have veered enough off course to warrant a re-examining of their choices.  God doesn't issue "insurance policies" to us as parents, guaranteeing our children won't engage in certain behaviors which bring harm or hurt into their lives.  He does guarantee his grace is sufficient to go with them into those places and to deliver them when they cry out!

Even a teacher has to learn the lesson first - and oftentimes "relearn" it several more times until it becomes so easily recalled and reapplied that it is like second-nature to them.  As I made my way through the grocery store yesterday, there was a mother and a son, each seeming to have a little bit of a different agenda for their shopping trip.  The boy was about 10 or so, and desired nothing more than to spend some time in the aisle where toys, summer water games, and the like are displayed.  From the moment they entered the store (and I mean that literally), the mother and son were at odds about the "agenda" each would follow. She wanted her Starbucks first, then a trip through the vegetable aisle, followed by a trip down the meat and dairy aisle, and then to the more mundane aisles housing boxed and canned goods.

As they made their way through the store, I seemed to be constantly crossing paths with them.  What made me notice them each and every time was the pained look on his face, her repeated reminders that he could not have his way, and the seemingly never-ending lecture about how she had things to accomplish and he could not ask her one more time to look at those things down that aisle he longed to visit.  It was a repeated reminder of "I am the mom" and "You are the child - you will do as you are told".  Now, he wasn't throwing a temper, nor was he being overly vocal.  He simply asked every so often if he could please (and I did hear please at least once) go down that aisle. Now, I don't know her total agenda, but she was rather leisurely in her shopping and coffee drinking, so I am not thinking her objection to his request was based on being time-constrained.  

What stuck out so clearly to me is how easy it is to "lecture" our lessons, but how difficult it is for us to truly connect with the child to understand what they might be desiring, walking through, etc.  He just wasn't letting up in his request and she wasn't about to let up in her lecturing about being the mother and him just doing as she said.  What makes us think we can just "hurl" lessons at our children and think it will somehow "stick"?  There is a connection between the lesson and the intended learner of that lesson which can only be made when the teacher makes the connection "three-way".  God has a way of getting into our space, not in a "I am God and you are the child" kind of way, but in a way which first makes the connection and then begins to connect the lesson within the framework of the foundation created within that relationship.  

Training doesn't happen because someone barks out orders to us.  It happens because we come to value their input, appreciate their presence, understand their heart, and connect frequently enough in an open way so as to be real with each other.  We never know when the lesson we are teaching will taken on meaning and bring life into another's life - but we do know if we are faithful to the relationship FIRST, we stand a much better chance of "training up" in a way which will help them "stay the course" as they are on their own.  Just sayin!

It was a small step, but it was forward!

It is all out war against sin in our lives.  Nothing short of describing this as a prolonged conflict will do!  In the midst of the battle, we can sometimes lose perspective of the small victories which have already occurred.  When we do, we get down on ourselves for still being engaged in the entire warfare situation.  Truth is, until we leave this earth, we will be engaged in this battle!  We just have to learn to be good warriors, entering into the victories we experience, and learning to step forward into the next.  No victory is without some form of struggle or conflict - it is just part of life.  Even finding a good deal on some purchase we may be wanting to make takes some effort on our part.  Even if all we do is surf the net to find the best deal on the item, there is some effort expended on our part which brings us the "victorious" moment of getting it for the price we hoped to pay.  So it is with the things in this life we hope to experience in our spiritual, emotional, and relational lives. There are small victories along the way, but not without a cost associated with them.

In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?  My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either.  It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects.  God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.  (Hebrews 12:4-11 MSG)

If there is one thing a soldier's training ingrains into the fibers of his being it is the value of discipline.  He is taught to be alert to danger, obedient to orders, and submissive to authority.  Why?  His life, and the life of his peers, depends on his ability and willingness to act upon what he is told and what he knows.  It isn't any different in this spiritual walk of ours - we are creating the culture for change in the lives of those we are surrounded by whenever we are alert to the dangers we face, are obedient to the "commands" we receive, and remain unyielding in our submission to the one who desires to control our lives (Jesus).

As a child of God, we can expect discipline in our lives.  It is part and parcel with being raised in any family.  Discipline isn't designed to destroy us, but rather to keep us safe.  This may not always be understood by those whose parents may have been abusive or neglectful in their care.  Our heavenly Father is not the same as these abusive or neglectful parents, though.  So learning to see him as a Father who desires only the best for his children is the first step in accepting "the best" may come with a little discipline.  The warrior has to learn the lessons of warfare before the soldier is ever fit to be placed into the field of warfare!

Those with abuse/neglectful parents may think of God's discipline as a little like punishment - for this is the only perspective they have.  The truth is, discipline is really training - it "rights" our behavior and trains us toward those things which will keep us safe in life.  For example, when God commands us to avoid certain behaviors, such as not making a hasty vow, it isn't because he never wants us to promise to do something, but because he wants us to know our word matters.  When we give our word, we are to follow through on it because integrity matters.  So, God "trains" us to pay attention to what it is we commit to doing - so we will be able to fulfill that which we actually are capable of doing.

Training involves not only showing someone what to avoid, but it focuses them on what is within the limits of what we can do.  For example, when I train someone to type, I usually ask them to focus not so much on the numbers at the top of the keyboard, but on the three rows of letters and those two keys with the tiny bumps on them which help us to know we are on the right set of keys as we begin to type.  Those tiny bumps on the "f" and "j" keys aren't there by accident.  They help us to know our "position" and to have an accurate frame of reference from which we will make all our key strokes.  God's training isn't dissimilar to this - he places guideposts in our path to assist us in making right choices and staying on course so all our future steps are correct.

Right now, training may seem a little like "unwanted" discipline.  In the midst of being corrected in our behavior or choices, we might even chafe a little under the intensity of focus being placed on those behaviors/choices.  Why? It is uncomfortable to have our lives examined!  Yet, if we are to make good life choices, we need to know which ones are not the best for us.  It is this "discovery period" where we realize we are not as consistently as "on target" as we need to be where we begin to recognize a change of perspective is necessary.  As I learned to fire my rifle, one of the things I needed to do was bring the tiny little site into focus on the end of the barrel.  I was to use that site to assist me in hitting the target.  The alignment mattered.  The "alignment" of our choices matters as much - we won't hit the target, or win the battle, when our "alignment" is less than on target.

Most of us who have endured the grueling weeks of basic training for one of the branches of military service will admit to the fact it wasn't all that "fun". It was downright hard at times and there were probably moments for each of us when we just wanted to quit.  I think we often walk a fine line between being stretched to capacity and finding that extra little bit of inner strength which helps us keep plugging along.  All discipline helps us find that "extra" within each of our lives which will help us to be victorious over those things which seem to give us the greatest struggle and pain.  We cannot deny the fact of a loving Father watching over our lives, nor can we discount the value of his discipline in bringing us to the point of those small victories.  Just sayin!