ON GROWTH
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
There is no doubt that today we have to concentrate on the spiritual growth of Christians around us. That means that we need to train in order to be able to run in the race of life...notice that I did not say compete; for competing and running are two different things in this case.
People don't seem to get the idea of running in a race without competing with one another, but in this case the reasons for why we run is different altogether. We simply run to try to finish the race. We run against not only ourselves but to get through all of the traps that the enemy of God has set for us along the way. It becomes important then that we are ready as much psychologically as we would be physically to run in such a race for it is continuous and lasts for an entire lifetime. That means that we are never finished in this lifetime until we die.
Such a race as this means endurance is the most important thing to train for because we run everyday of our lives. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and 1 Timothy 4:7-8 advise us that this training means that we need to be godly in the way we run this race {or in the way we live our lives} Just how we go about running this race is the question? It isn't hard to understand that this race is different than any other kind of race that we have ever dealt with...the rules are different, and the outcome of our efforts are very serious. This kind of race is run through our behavior, and that is not just with how we act around others in various situations but in a great way what we say to one another. As an example in James 3:1-12 we are taught to train our tongues just like we would a wild animal. It is with our tongues that we both praise and curse God therefore we must bridal our tongues and make them to conform to our will, and to God's will in our hearts.
When people hear the teachings of Paul they get the feeling that they must try harder to be like Jesus, and yet trying harder is not the answer either. There isn't really anything that we can do on our own to gain spiritual training to run this kind of race. Actually it should not be a burdensome thing; Christ said that "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" so straining and over exertion will not help us at all. By definition training means to engage in practice, exercises and relationship that help us to do. We need God's help to accomplish this; and we cannot achieve it by ourselves. What kinds of practices are we talking about?
It means regularly spending time reading scripture...spending time in trying to understand the complete story behind what you are reading. The reason for this is that there are many scriptures we think we know until we know the whole story. By reading a chapter before and a chapter after a verse of scripture we can get an idea of what the real meaning is behind it.
Also as you read try to keep an open mind so that the Holy Spirit can teach you. You may be able to relate to a circumstance or a situation that touches your life and that relates to you like it never has before. If you want to grow in strength it is then through prayer and meditation in God's Spirit that you will find real power to do so. There is much more to the Christian life than we realize...I pray that you will begin to seek deeper relationship with God starting today. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
There is no doubt that today we have to concentrate on the spiritual growth of Christians around us. That means that we need to train in order to be able to run in the race of life...notice that I did not say compete; for competing and running are two different things in this case.
People don't seem to get the idea of running in a race without competing with one another, but in this case the reasons for why we run is different altogether. We simply run to try to finish the race. We run against not only ourselves but to get through all of the traps that the enemy of God has set for us along the way. It becomes important then that we are ready as much psychologically as we would be physically to run in such a race for it is continuous and lasts for an entire lifetime. That means that we are never finished in this lifetime until we die.
Such a race as this means endurance is the most important thing to train for because we run everyday of our lives. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and 1 Timothy 4:7-8 advise us that this training means that we need to be godly in the way we run this race {or in the way we live our lives} Just how we go about running this race is the question? It isn't hard to understand that this race is different than any other kind of race that we have ever dealt with...the rules are different, and the outcome of our efforts are very serious. This kind of race is run through our behavior, and that is not just with how we act around others in various situations but in a great way what we say to one another. As an example in James 3:1-12 we are taught to train our tongues just like we would a wild animal. It is with our tongues that we both praise and curse God therefore we must bridal our tongues and make them to conform to our will, and to God's will in our hearts.
When people hear the teachings of Paul they get the feeling that they must try harder to be like Jesus, and yet trying harder is not the answer either. There isn't really anything that we can do on our own to gain spiritual training to run this kind of race. Actually it should not be a burdensome thing; Christ said that "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" so straining and over exertion will not help us at all. By definition training means to engage in practice, exercises and relationship that help us to do. We need God's help to accomplish this; and we cannot achieve it by ourselves. What kinds of practices are we talking about?
It means regularly spending time reading scripture...spending time in trying to understand the complete story behind what you are reading. The reason for this is that there are many scriptures we think we know until we know the whole story. By reading a chapter before and a chapter after a verse of scripture we can get an idea of what the real meaning is behind it.
Also as you read try to keep an open mind so that the Holy Spirit can teach you. You may be able to relate to a circumstance or a situation that touches your life and that relates to you like it never has before. If you want to grow in strength it is then through prayer and meditation in God's Spirit that you will find real power to do so. There is much more to the Christian life than we realize...I pray that you will begin to seek deeper relationship with God starting today. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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