Sometimes I feel like Christians can become complacent. We overcome a certain sin, go through an easier season of life, or unbeknownst to us we begin to live a life constantly comparing our “holiness” to another person’s “holiness” and as long as we are doing better than them then we must be cool with God. As if there was nothing more to learn, or if we have stopped needing God’s help to do things anymore. How dangerous it is to believe this lie, because with God there is no standing still. If you aren’t running towards him, it's not like you stop moving. You begin to run to something else. We have wandering eyes and hearts, and if we are not focused on Jesus, if we are not focused on being more like Christ each and every day, we will fall away. Hebrews 2:1 says, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, (that being the Word of God) lest we drift away from it.”
I’m an athlete, and so to me it makes sense like this. I work out a lot to build myself up. If I want to be a great athlete, it’s what I must do. Let’s say I have a goal of back squatting 225 lbs. I train and train and train and one day I hit it. Do I stop? Do I say just because I got to my goal I can quit working out? No, for two reasons. 1) I can be stronger. I don’t have to stop at 225 and I won’t stop there. I just set a higher goal. 2) If I quit working out, I won't stay as I am. I will grow weaker and eventually my body will be nowhere near as strong or as fast as it once was. If you stop using and training your muscles, they will shrink. Trust me, it’s a harsh reality taking more than a 2-week break and getting back in the gym. It almost feels like starting all over.
All of that to say faith is like a muscle. You exercise it to strengthen it, and you eat well to help it grow. By eating I am referring to feeding your spirit what it needs to grow. The Word of God, worship, community, prayer etc. Don’t let your relationship with God be like an athlete that plateaus and then falls off. Pursue Jesus, seek first the kingdom of God, and run the race to receive the imperishable prize of God’s kingdom. Don’t let complacency slip into your relationship with God. God has so much more for us. There is more he wants to say and more he wants to do through us. But in order for that to happen, we have to let him refine us into a vessel that can handle more. That can handle the weight of his holy plans.
Here is a little poem I wrote about my heart wanting more.
I have an insatiable hunger that won’t be satisfied this side of heaven.
The promise of the creator’s eternal presence and living in his radiant glory is what I long for.
When you encounter Jesus and the Holy Spirit leaves you forever changed, a flip switches and the words “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” become so real.
So real. So powerful.
The Holy Spirit comes and gives us an entirely new perspective.
The Word tells us that the Holy Spirit is our comforter and our guarantee.
Our taste of heaven.
And to think that the Holy Spirit has only given me a fraction of heaven and that fraction has produced life in abundance. It has overflowed my cup. It has exceeded the limits of my imagination.
It is no wonder that heaven is said to be of glory beyond all comparison.
Until I die to gain, I press in, I go deeper, because I want more.
If only to receive 0.01% more it would be worth a lifetime of serving, worshipping, and enduring the momentary afflictions of this world.
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