Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1, NIV)
What keeps you from the practice green or the range? We can come up with a million excuses why we don’t have time to practice, but none of them changes the fact that we need to practice in order to get better. We have to start somewhere, and the first thing we have to decide is that it is worth the effort to put in the work to get better.
This is true about our lives as believers in Jesus. There are many entanglements and hindrances that prevent us from doing those things that would make us stronger in our daily life. We want to get up in the morning for a time of quiet study with God, but it seems like something else always gets in the way. We would like to do more in the way of service, but there seems to be something else that is more pressing to do. We would like to be more dedicated to our friends and family, but it seems they must take a backseat to greater matters like our work or career.
Any job that seems overwhelming and impossible to complete has to be attacked not with the attitude of getting done but with the idea that you just start and keep on working.How do we break out of this entanglement and step out in faith to run the race of our life in a way that pleases God? We first must decide that it is essential in order to live our best life. It must become a priority for us. It must become a first-things-first attitude. Once we have made that decision, we can begin to throw off those hindrances.
The greatest hindrance is apathy and a failure to start. I had someone tell me once that any job that seems overwhelming and impossible to complete has to be attacked not with the attitude of getting done but with the idea that you just start and keep on working. I believe this is the attitude we should take in our long race to the end. We won’t get it done in one day. It will take many small steps in the right direction, and we will have to overcome hindrances on a daily basis.
If we do this every day to the best of our ability, we will find ourselves working our way through the hard and difficult things that must be accomplished in us as we run our way to the end of our life. When we get there, we will be changed, not in a flash but over a lifetime of obedience and determination to stick to the plan. Changed into the kind of person God always knew we could be.
—
Linda Ballard
August 9, 2018
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.