Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Do You Want to Be a Sprinter, or a Gymnast?

Watching the Olympics I noticed something in the way athletes of different sports responded to a set-back.  If a sprinter fell during their race, rarely did they get back up on the track to continue.  Most likely they believed their ability to finish the race with a good time was lost.  If a gymnast fell off the balance beam, pommel horse or rings, they moved as quickly as possible to remount and continue, believing they could redeem the points lost by falling by having a flawless finish.

All of these competitors are world-class athletes and they each know the ins and outs of their particular sport exceptionally well.  But in terms of our spiritual race, which would we rather be, the sprinter, or the gymnast?

In our Christian lives we will all face times of disappointment and failure.  We will fall off the beam, or lose our grasp of the rings.  The question is, do we get up again?  Do we quickly avail ourselves of the redemptive work our Lord Jesus has completed for us -- for both salvation and for the maintenance of our daily walk with Him -- or do we sit dejected, discouraged, deceived and distracted by our own failures?

At the end of His time on Calvary, when the Lord Jesus paid the price for our sins, He cried out, "It is finished!"  

Finished.  

It that moment, everything we need to be justified in the sight of God was completed. Everything we need to walk in the Spirit with the Lord was provided.  Everything for every need...all found in Him.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 
 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we 
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." 
Romans 5:1, 2

When we have those episodes in which we fall, let us remember that "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."  Let us agree with Him regarding our failures and by faith believe in our access into the grace He has purchased for us.  The work is finished, let us avail ourselves of it's benefits.  

In those times, if we could hear the Lord audibly speaking to us, I'm sure He would be saying, "Get up my child.  Carry on, continue. . ." or as the Apostle Paul said,

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 
Philippians 3:14.

Let us press on.

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