Running the Race to win is the goal... ©

Running the Race to win is the goal, but encouraging the guy beside you to run harder shows a True Spirit and Heart for Christ. As Christians we sometimes get so focused on our own ministry or our own little piece of the Church that we forget the Christian life is a “team sport”. We are to offer encouragement, prayers, support and yes occasionally correction for our Christian brothers and sisters. However; we are also to love those on our path that do not know the Lord. Paul masterfully taught this point in his 1st letter to the Corinthian Church. The 13th chapter has 13 verses, each verse builds on the one before it, teaching us by verse 13 what our heart should, no, must look like upon claiming the name of The Holy and Righteous Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 13 The Excellence of Love (1) If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (3) And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. (4) Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, (5) does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, (6) does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; (7) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (8) Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. (9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part; (10) but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. (11) When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. (12) For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. (13) But now faith, hope, love, abides these three; but the greatest of these is love. "BUT THE GREATIST OF THESE IS LOVE"... I have been accused of having lopsided writings & Blogs, I have been told that I write and speak more on the Love in Christianity than any of the other Doctrinal topics available for me to research in depth. Those critical observations are correct! However; to those folks, I offer these points to ponder. If you have yielded your life to Christ, does not the Holy Spirit dwell in us? If that Spirit is dwelling in our heart and mind, then He is ministering to us, offering correction and balance to our walk. If we Love our Blessed Savior, obedience should not be a topic to discuss, because as a Loving Child of His, we will obey out of a desire to please Him. Just as we seek obedience from our teen children out of Love and Respect for us, should we be any different with our Heavenly Father? We have His Words to Us in this Bible we hold in our hands, where He clearly defines His expectations for us. What; you say you are having a hard time discerning the Spirit in your life? Do you read your Bible daily? Do you pray offering your petitions and requests, and offer Him Praise, Worship and Glorify Him? When you have ended your prayer, do you sit quietly and meditate with Him before going about your business? Does your life reflect the Blessings He has so lovingly showered your life with? Do you seek Christian counsel when you are struggling, and meet your Heavenly Father in your quiet place? Or do you shrug your shoulders or worse yet shake your spiritual fist at Him? Are you approaching the Throne of Grace as a strong willed child? Search your heart, as Paul stated, you must walk in the Spirit. Have you identified your Spiritual Gifts and put them into service – serving Him and the local body of Christ that He has led you to? When you look inward, can you identify His joy in your heart? Do you see true unconditional love in your heart for your neighbors, people at work, congregation members, and your Pastor? If not, I challenge you to start examining your RELATIONSHIP with Christ, not your fellowship, your relationship – for if you belong to Him, He will change your Heart from the inside out! Creating a True Change, you will begin to take on new character traits; you will begin to develop Christ’s heart. That "Change" in your heart is the identity of the Relationship with Him that is the doctrinal truth that a Repentant Heart holds testimony to. This is a process of change, sometimes it happens over night, sometimes it takes a life time, but one thing is sure, True Repentance at the time of Salvation, and submission to His Spirit will bear testimony to “change” in the heart of the believer. This is not to say that there won't be peaks and valleys in our Faith, it is to say that the yielded heart will show an upward climb on the Spiritual Growth Chart. That, while understanding we never arrive this side of Heaven, (there is always room for growth and improvement) we should be reaching for the mark, running the race to win. I am not saying Christianity is all rosy and perfectly pretty every day of your life. Nor am I saying that Salvation is anything but COMPLETE AND ETERNAL, for the Believer! What I am saying is that there will be a dramatic change in your outlook, how you see God, how you see people, the depth of the love you have for people you are close to, all will change. This change starts at the moment of salvation and continues through your entire life, as you read your Bible and spend time with the Lord, you become more like Him. Christ laid some of those inward changes out for us in the B-Attitudes when He said (3) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (4) “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (5) “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. (6) “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (7) “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. (8) “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (9 )“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (10) “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (11) “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. (12) “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Did you get that, these B-attitudes are characteristics of the Heart in the Christian Faith, walking in and with Christ. Another passage I love is Matthew 5, and verses 43 through 48 where Christ nails it cold. (43) “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ (44) “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (45) so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (46) “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? (47) “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? (48) “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Christ told us here that if we are of the Father in Heaven, we will love those beyond our envelope of friends and colleagues. We love the unlovable, we will pain for and show charity to those less fortunate than ourselves. Paul talked about these Spiritual Character Attributes in Galatians 5, the whole chapter is about Walking in the Spirit, and how we are to practice that. He gave us insight as to what we humans look like outside of the Spirit in verses 19 through 21. (19) Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, (20) idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, (21) envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. It’s that whole living too close to the line… Folks I know I sound like a broken record here, but if you have one foot in the world, your other foot is not too far away… Christ wants it all, He wants your whole heart, and He is HOLY!! He can’t follow you into the world. If you truly belong to Him, He will let you go a little while, but you will be miserable, your Heart will ache for what is right. It may even take Him allowing you to have your own way until it forces you to make a decision. That is the wisdom He has placed in my heart, for I was there in the dirt, forced to look into His face when I realized I had messed up my life and some of those around me in the worldly desires of my youth. I was a thrill junky, fast cars, fast motorcycles, boats, and ultimately flying light fixed wing aircraft, a habit that became very costly. Then it was all taken away with a physical ailment that took my flight medical, depression set in, and abuse of prescribed medications followed. My family, my career all was ebbing away, and I was too stupid to see that it all evolved from one cause – and in the end, one purpose. The Cause of my fallen state was walking away from the Christ that I gave my life to at age 13. His Purpose in the end, to teach me that a yielded heart serving the Master meets every need and provides happiness beyond anything the world could offer. Through Christ I realized that I love my wife deeper, that my Children have a new place in my heart, and I saw my parents with new eyes – Christ’s eyes. When you look at the world through His eyes, things are different; as you grow in His Spirit you begin to feel His pain for the condition of this world. That pain creates a desire to reach out and show His love to those that don’t know Him. Occasionally, now that my Spiritual maturity is trying to catch up to my physical maturity, I see my old ways in younger folks in the Faith. Probably much like Paul saw his past in folks he encountered, the difference being, he was bold, and had not been tempered by Political Correctness. Yes, Political Correctness has entered the doors of the Church. Wisely choosing your words, as well as the issues that are worth fighting have become the new challenge for older Christians in the Church. Wisdom to see the Fruit of the Spirit (or lack of) in people and leaving judgment of motive and heart to God is a very thin line today. Partially because we Christians have misused it in the past, and tarnished the value of Spiritual Correction, with wicked fingers of men that were not qualified to offer counsel of any kind. Today, we must look at Galatians 5:22-24 for ourselves, as a Metric in measuring "ourselves". (22)But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23)gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (24)Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. This is how we run the Race, we focus on the Spirit that Lives in us, and nurture that Spirit so that it may bear fruit, and then we share that fruit with those around us. We help our Christian Brothers and Sisters to keep in the race, and to run the race to make it to the finish line and win. We share the fruit of the Spirit with those folks God places around us at work, in our neighborhoods and family that does not yet know Christ. We stay in the race through continual submission to God’s will, ministered to us through the Comforter. We strive in the race by exercising our Faith in Him to care and provide for us. We realize joy in the race as we look over our shoulder to see how far He has carried us in His strength. We communicate with the Head Coach in the race by allowing ourselves to be wrapped in Christ’s Righteousness, and allowing Him to take our prayers to the Father on our behalf. Through the process of running to the finish line, we will KNOW Christ and He will KNOW us. We will understand His Grace and how that Grace paved the way for our Faith in God’s perfect gift in His Son’s shed blood, death, burial and resurrection which generated the trophy to be awarded at the finish line. To run the race to win, well it means you are committed, no matter how many obstacles fall on the course. It means that you don’t have Christ as your co-pilot; it means you have taken the 2nd seat, and put Him in command. That the very forgiveness that He died to offer you, you must now show to all that stand in your path, just as freely, just as willingly and just as completely as Christ did for you. If you can’t or won’t, then re-examine your heart, seek counsel from a solid Christian leader. Pray, Pray, Pray then Listen, meditate upon His Word that is how He talks to us. “Dear Precious Father, Thank You for giving fallen man the opportunity to be restored to fellowship with You through Your Dear Son. Lord, we understand that we are to take up our cross and follow you, in effect running the Race that Paul referred to in his letters. Help us Lord to submit ourselves to Your will, leaning not on our own understanding, but yielding to your Wisdom and Sovereignty willingly, selflessly, and all the while recognizing our subordinate state to You and the Father. Too often Father, I find myself trying to crawl back into the Pilot seat when things are going well. Fill me with the Spirit Father to overflowing, sensing your presence, and yielding my will to Your authority as a Loving child that wishes to please my Father. Touch the hearts of the dear folks that read this work, give them the encouragement and strength needed to run the race for You Father. In all things we bring to You, and all things that You show us and bless us with, let us always be mindful to give You the Honor, the Praise and the Glory for. We offer this prayer to You through Your Precious Son Jesus Christ, Amen.”