It involves moving your body.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV) "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 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.
Lets suppose there is a marathon happening where you live. If you saw someone walking around shopping and chilling on the streets would you point them out and say "Wow! They're running in the marathon!"
No. Unless maybe you have a sarcastic sense of humour.
What if you saw someone trailing behind a bunch of runners, and this runner was running really slow and breathing heavily. Even despite their slow pace would you be able to tell that they were in the race?
I would be able to tell that they were probably involved in some sort of running event, probably the marathon. The shopper? I would just assume they were shopping.
Likewise our lives with Christ are like a race. And we need to be running them with purpose, even if we go really slow, even if we are lagging behind. We just need to be putting one foot in front of the other. How else will anybody know we're in the race?
If we aren't striving to grow and draw closer to God every single day, how will people know that Jesus is who we are following. That God is the one we are running toward and living our lives for?
Living like Christ.
It involves moving spiritually.
We have to keep growing every single day. And the most important changes are the tiny little incremental changes that we barely notice, but are consistent.
Changes like praying every morning and thanking God for the day. It might seem like too small a habit to start. I mean if your going to start a thriving prayer life, you tell yourself, it has to be with big grandiose prayers that are hours long and require you to spend an hour a day in silent meditation. I mean if your going to do something you should do it right. Am I right?
No, just start small. It might not seem like a lot, and maybe you feel guilty for not doing more. But just give a little time every day consistently. Those little moments are more important than we dare realize.
God tells us we are running in a race, that the life we live for God is a race. And the goal and prize is Him.
1 Corinthians 9:26 (ESV)
"So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air."
