Get
Over Your Hurts
There
are so many besetting sins. To be beset means to be troubled, plagued,
tormented, harried, irked, beleaguered just look at all the small stuff
that Satan uses to distract and defeat the believer. If you really want
to win you cannot bow to your feelings. You cannot listen to your
accusers.
HAMILTON,
OHIO -- Now that I have your attention let me ask a very personal
question. How much weight have you gained? How dare anyone write an
article and insult readers with such personal inquisition! Well, relax a
bit because as you know this would be in reference to the spiritual race
you are running and allowing hindrances to drag you down. If you want to
win, you must watch your weight.
It seems the
number one attack on the believer is to weight him down with
distractions. Distraction scatters our focus and causes us to miss the
mark. Distraction allows things to attach themselves to us without our
knowledge. Distraction allows others to pick our pockets while we are
busy about something that is really nothing except a distraction.
(Hebrews 12) If you really want to win, you must ignore the
distractions.
No wonder we
are taught to lay aside every weight and "the sin that does so
easily distract" us from the race. It is not always obvious at the
start who will win or lose. In fact Paul wrote to some people and said,
"ye did run well, who has hindered you that you do not obey the
truth?" There have been some good fast starters who let small
things "distractions" hinder them to the point they lose it
all. (Galatians 3)
If you would
prepare to run for the long haul, you must plan to finish and plan to
work and work your plan to finish. It won’t just happen that you win.
You must know what hill is likely to be your defeat and save energy and
keep talking to yourself until you have made it over that crucial point.
There is a hill called heartbreak hill where many racers lose their will
to keep running. It comes past the middle of the race and those who have
not planned are taken by surprise and drop out. Any thing can work to
distract you. The surprises can distract. People can distract. They can
interfere with your work out that will get you fit for the race. They
just stand around and want to chat. You lose time when you could be
working those muscles, racing your heart and strengthening yourself for
the race. If you want to win, you cannot let others interrupt your
training process.
The day of
the race finds you with too much weight. Too late and too much weight.
You were pulled off course and talked out of your destiny by worthless
comments and useless side trips. If you want to win you must be aware of
where you are in what time frame in regard to your race. Everything bows
to what it takes to win the race.
Let me
encourage you to shake off the things that weight you down. Let me say,
keep moving, keep planning, keep walking, if you are too weak to walk,
kneel, if you are too weak to kneel fall on your face before God and
grab hold of His promise to be strength to you when you are weak. If you
really want to win, convince God you really intend to do the job and
that He must send you strength and supply all your needs.
Let’s run
the race with patience, the race set before us. We need the courage to
get us some little signs like they have at golf tournaments. They read
QUIET. In other words don’t distract the player. This is an important
moment. Let us not forget when there is an important moment and let us
be focused on the grand prize.
If you really
want to win you must understand when the drive will make the ultimate
difference.
God will give
you grace for your race and will give you strength and the proper pace,
but we must include Him as our trainer. He ran and won and so can you.
Paul ran and won, and so many more in faith’s hall of fame. They are
cheering us on. Come on let’s take out all stops fix our eyes on the
line and not break speed until we have run through the finish. There is
plenty time to stop but only one time to win. May God give each one
grace to endure til the end and finish this race with patience. That
means a smooth pace. Plan to finish! It takes no plan to fail.
There are so
many besetting sins. To be beset means to be troubled, plagued,
tormented, harried, irked, beleaguered just look at all the small stuff
that satan uses to distract and defeat the believer. If you really want
to win you cannot bow to your feelings. You cannot listen to your
accusers.
People we
don’t have time to work all time on saints. We should be teachers but
when we should be able to teach others we again need someone to teach
us. Oh, that God would give us maturity in His body to where we would
quit sinking our own ships, tripping over our own feet or another player
on our team.
God has made
it simple; it takes us to make it complex. We despair of preaching to
the choir. There is a tremendous work to be done and we can do it if we
will not let anything distract us from our purpose. Loose the weight and
let’s prepare ourselves to give the enemy a run for his money. We are
more than winners Christ has said but He needs to see some people on the
winner’s block singing the anthem of Salvation by the blood. Let us
RUN!
RUN by the
rules, run with strategy, and give it all you have. What else can I say?
Some times I think my heart will explode with the passion I feel when I
am writing these articles, I want to compel you to RUN and let nothing
WEIGHT you down. Lose your distraction in the purity of your focus and
mow down the finish tape at top speed. We are winners. I’ll meet you
on the other side of the tape.