06-20-2011, 11:08 AM
Monday, June 20, 2011
by Dr. Paul Chappell
Ephesians 4:22-32
Choose to run God's race today rather than idling with distractions.
June marks the halfway point in this year. Six months ago, we rang in a new year and made goals for 2011. Think back to some of your "New Year's Resolutions." What did you determine to change this year? How are you doing on those goals? The year is only half over, so it's not too late to begin today.
Some of us will be honest and admit things aren't going exactly how we wanted, but according to research, most Americans don't follow through on their resolutions. Forty to forty-five percent of American adults make one or more resolutions each year. Among the top new years resolutions are resolutions about weight loss, exercise, and better money management and debt reduction.
The following shows how many of these resolutions are maintained as time goes on:
past the first week: 75%
past 2 weeks: 71%
after one month: 64%
after 6 months: 46%
While a lot of people who make new years resolutions do break them, research shows that setting goals is useful. People who explicitly set goals are ten times more likely to attain them than people who don't even put the thought into setting a goal for the future.
The determining factor on reaching a goal, however, is daily faithfulness. Many Christians set a goal at the beginning of the year to be more faithful in their daily Christian life. This faithfulness grows as we are faithful daily to run the race for God. As we saw yesterday, Paul's ability to point back to a faithful life was due to his daily determination to walk faithfully. We, too, can end life with a faithful race as long as we are prepared to run each day.
So what's the first step to prepare for our race? How can we enter the race with a determination to finish faithfully? Consider Hebrews 12:1, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
The first step in preparing for our race is laying aside those things that trip us up. Paul advises us to lay aside the weights and sins that distract us from running a faithful race. Not every person has the same "distractors" so we each must search our own lives for things that hinder us.
Just as each athlete faces certain distractions that can keep them from finishing strongly, so we face sins that can keep us from faithfulness. Take a minute and ask God to search your life. Ask Him to bring to light any sins that are keeping you from faithfully running your race. The distraction may not even be a sin, but if it's keeping you from your race, it must be laid aside.
Step one in preparing for your race each day is to set aside those appetites, pursuits, sins, or hobbies that will keep you from focusing on God's race for your life. Choose to run God's race today rather than idling with distractions.
Daily Bible Reading
Esther 1-2 | Acts 5:1-21
by Dr. Paul Chappell
Ephesians 4:22-32
Choose to run God's race today rather than idling with distractions.
June marks the halfway point in this year. Six months ago, we rang in a new year and made goals for 2011. Think back to some of your "New Year's Resolutions." What did you determine to change this year? How are you doing on those goals? The year is only half over, so it's not too late to begin today.
Some of us will be honest and admit things aren't going exactly how we wanted, but according to research, most Americans don't follow through on their resolutions. Forty to forty-five percent of American adults make one or more resolutions each year. Among the top new years resolutions are resolutions about weight loss, exercise, and better money management and debt reduction.
The following shows how many of these resolutions are maintained as time goes on:
past the first week: 75%
past 2 weeks: 71%
after one month: 64%
after 6 months: 46%
While a lot of people who make new years resolutions do break them, research shows that setting goals is useful. People who explicitly set goals are ten times more likely to attain them than people who don't even put the thought into setting a goal for the future.
The determining factor on reaching a goal, however, is daily faithfulness. Many Christians set a goal at the beginning of the year to be more faithful in their daily Christian life. This faithfulness grows as we are faithful daily to run the race for God. As we saw yesterday, Paul's ability to point back to a faithful life was due to his daily determination to walk faithfully. We, too, can end life with a faithful race as long as we are prepared to run each day.
So what's the first step to prepare for our race? How can we enter the race with a determination to finish faithfully? Consider Hebrews 12:1, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
The first step in preparing for our race is laying aside those things that trip us up. Paul advises us to lay aside the weights and sins that distract us from running a faithful race. Not every person has the same "distractors" so we each must search our own lives for things that hinder us.
Just as each athlete faces certain distractions that can keep them from finishing strongly, so we face sins that can keep us from faithfulness. Take a minute and ask God to search your life. Ask Him to bring to light any sins that are keeping you from faithfully running your race. The distraction may not even be a sin, but if it's keeping you from your race, it must be laid aside.
Step one in preparing for your race each day is to set aside those appetites, pursuits, sins, or hobbies that will keep you from focusing on God's race for your life. Choose to run God's race today rather than idling with distractions.
Daily Bible Reading
Esther 1-2 | Acts 5:1-21