I have a friend that laughs at me for all the mental games I have to play on myself to do things that I need to do, but maybe don’t want to do.
Running is a big one for me.
I actually love running, but there are times that I just do not want to be out there, so I have to trick myself into doing it.
Today was one of those days.
I was tired, work was busy, and it was windy and rainy.
It was very easy to justify why I shouldn’t or couldn’t go, but I made myself.
But here is the thing, even once I start, I struggle.
The rationalizing begins and my run can be cut short if I listen to it.
I had limited time today, which is always good for the evil lazy me to use against the healthy me…. but I know the evil guy’s tricks, so I had a plan for today. I decided I would run hard for 16 mins, getting as far away from my car as possible, that way I would have no option to cut the run short, I had no option but to cover the distance back to the car as well.
I really only had 32 minutes to run, so I knew that I couldn’t even slow down on the second half and ideally, I would try and speed up.
It worked; I covered the distance in less than 32 mins.
So, I know that I am a mental case that I must trick myself to do the thing that I want to do.
Strange.
It got me thinking.
In our pursuit of Christ, do we go all in and commit ourselves to going the distance, or do we sometime take the easy way out and not risk too much.
We stay close to our comfort zone, so we can get back to it without problem.
We dip our feet in the water and expect to be cleansed head to toe.
God is great, and that never changes, but our ability to experience His greatness is directly proportional to how willing we are to commit to Him.
It’s not easy, and there is always the evil side that will want to tell us not to commit.
We may have to trick ourselves at times, by doing something bold and audacious that commits us to see it through.
I don’t know what that is for you, for me it was going to Nicaragua on my first mission trip and going to Walk to Emmaus in the same year.
Because of those two actions, that got me going, I knew I was committed to seeing it through and building my relationship with God.
Don’t get me wrong, I still struggle, I hem and haw and I want the comfort zone, but I know that I am on a journey that is not finished, so I have to keep moving forward.
Philippians 3 12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus
I have a friend that laughs at me for all the mental games I have to play on myself to do things that I need to do, but maybe don’t want to do.
Running is a big one for me.
I actually love running, but there are times that I just do not want to be out there, so I have to trick myself into doing it.
Today was one of those days.
I was tired, work was busy, and it was windy and rainy.
It was very easy to justify why I shouldn’t or couldn’t go, but I made myself.
But here is the thing, even once I start, I struggle.
The rationalizing begins and my run can be cut short if I listen to it.
I had limited time today, which is always good for the evil lazy me to use against the healthy me…. but I know the evil guy’s tricks, so I had a plan for today. I decided I would run hard for 16 mins, getting as far away from my car as possible, that way I would have no option to cut the run short, I had no option but to cover the distance back to the car as well.
I really only had 32 minutes to run, so I knew that I couldn’t even slow down on the second half and ideally, I would try and speed up.
It worked; I covered the distance in less than 32 mins.
So, I know that I am a mental case that I must trick myself to do the thing that I want to do.
Strange.
It got me thinking.
In our pursuit of Christ, do we go all in and commit ourselves to going the distance, or do we sometime take the easy way out and not risk too much.
We stay close to our comfort zone, so we can get back to it without problem.
We dip our feet in the water and expect to be cleansed head to toe.
God is great, and that never changes, but our ability to experience His greatness is directly proportional to how willing we are to commit to Him.
It’s not easy, and there is always the evil side that will want to tell us not to commit.
We may have to trick ourselves at times, by doing something bold and audacious that commits us to see it through.
I don’t know what that is for you, for me it was going to Nicaragua on my first mission trip and going to Walk to Emmaus in the same year.
Because of those two actions, that got me going, I knew I was committed to seeing it through and building my relationship with God.
Don’t get me wrong, I still struggle, I hem and haw and I want the comfort zone, but I know that I am on a journey that is not finished, so I have to keep moving forward.
Philippians 3 12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus