If you are familiar with my blog you know that running plays an important role in my life. I run at least three to four times a week with several other women. It is my escape. Some like to escape to a hot bath with a good book, not me I want to pound some pavement. I have been noticing that the group of women that I run with has dwindled down to about four regulars with me being one of them.
Last week, one of the ladies who hadn't been attending decided to bow out of running with us because she had missed so many days and just couldn't keep up the pace and complete the distance. This made me think about Christians. I know what on earth could deciding not to run have to do with that. Well, lets see if I can unravel my convoluted thought process a little.
Runners aren't made in one day. You don't just wake up one morning and are able to run a marathon. It doesn't work that way. As a runner, if you want to run you have to run regulary. You have to train your body to run the distance or times that you set for your goal. You build endurance by increasing how long you run. You build speed by doing short sprints with small recovery times and then you do it again. There are so many different ways to become a better runner but they all have in common one thing. You have to run.
The concept of having to run rings true with Christianity. If you want to be a strong Christian you have to have a strong relationship with God. The only way to do that is to build on it, to increase your knowledge of what scripture says, to be in prayer and to listen to Him. I hate it when someone says something about the Bible but they aren't sure where it is located or they take the scripture out of context and the cultural bounds. That is biblical illteracy and our churches abound with it. These are people who want to call themselves "runners" but don't want to strap on the shoes and hit the pavement.
Sometimes I find it amazing for me how difficult it is for me to set aside time for bible study. I mean really how else am I going to learn more about God than to take the time to study the Bible? Have you ever realized how easy it is to put something off until another day and then discover that one day lead to another and you never completed what you needed to?
My point is are you out there challenging yourself to grow in Christ or are you standing still wishing you were?
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. Proverbs 24:3-4
5 comments:
What a great analogy. I'm not a runner and I really don't like sweat, but I do have the discipline to stay in the Word and work on my relationship with my Lord. It takes time and effort and I sacrifice extra sleep in the morning to do it, but it is worth it!
Awesome post!
Thanks ladies for stopping by and reading my little blog.
This was like a personal trainer saying, "Go...go. You can do it!"
Thanks, we all need to be pushed form time-to-time. I was reading the Word everyday...then got spiritually lazy.
Great connection. Paul likes to make this same connection, using running/racing as a metaphor for our Christian walk: "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold on to the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing." -Phillipians 2:14-16
The metaphor helps me to view my walk with God as a journey that must be prepared for, trained for, practiced consistently, and finally completed.
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