I have been listening to a message by Walt Henrichsen, who was speaking about the spiritual battles that Christians face and the temptation to grow weary, become disillusioned, and end up climbing on the shelf, rendering ourselves ineffective for the call of Christ. The attrition rate in the Christian life is atrocious. Many aspire, but very few attain. The focus of his message was 14 ways that Christians make peace treaties with the devil and render themselves useless for God.
I was reminded of this scripture: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.” (1Corinthians 9:24-27 NAS)
The Christian life is not a microwave lifestyle. We would love to throw our “frozen” issues that we cannot figure out, and are crippling our life, before God, have Him thaw it all out, and then return an answer in minutes. We want Him to feed us solutions that are warmed up and ready to go, so that we can get rid of the inconvenience and move on with our daily activities. When we face the proverbial immovable object, we are often challenged to have the patience to wait for God to work out an answer through the struggle of life. We can get discouraged and even disillusioned with God because He is not “getting with the program,” and we dump him to handle things our own way, which seems to be a much faster and quicker solution.
We have to learn that we are in a long distance race that takes endurance. We need to change our mindset that God is there to simply solve things, to a mindset that embraces the reality that God wants to take us on a journey through life.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised (Hebrews 10:35-36 NAS).
How are you doing in the race? Are you struggling with indifference and apathy? What are your expectations of God and what He should be doing for you? What is your perception of your love for God?
May you be steadfast and immovable as you run the race with Christ for we all have need of endurance.
Blessings,
Pastor Brad
