No Longer Aimless...

Today as I sat in the bleachers watching my daughter play basketball, I was just amazed at her tenacity and her drive to play hard and do her best. I beamed and cheered her on as she and her teammates scored, so proud of them all. My daughter tried out for the team with no prior experience playing, and she made the team. She is the smallest one on her team, and has had to work very hard to learn the game and to keep up. But after months of practice, I can truly see the results of her labor. If she stays the course and continues to play, I know that she will be a fantastic asset to the team as she gets better over time. There is more than one component that will determine her success though. Hard work is a key factor, and makes all the difference in the world, but a good teacher is vitally important. My daughter has a coach that puts God first and sets a wonderful example for the girls, not only in the game, but life in general. She teaches them not only how to play the game, but is one of the best role models for the girls that anyone could ever ask for.

After we got home from the game, I saw a video someone had posted online that showed a herd of elk crossing the highway. It was a massive herd, and they had to jump a fence before they could get across the road. The elk flowed like a river over the fence, jumping in turn as if they were all connected to one another. The line of elk stretched almost as far as the eye could see, all following the leader as they crossed. But one of the elk was unable to jump the fence, whether it didn’t have enough of a running start or was afraid or hesitant, it just couldn’t do it. All of the herd had crossed the road and were out of the camera’s line of sight, while the one lone elk ran up and down the fence trying to find a way out. It tried a few times to find a way over the fence, but got tangled up. Suddenly, it turned away from the fence and began to run. I wondered for a moment if it was giving up, but then it did an about face and headed back toward the fence and with a long running start. It was finally able to jump the fence and ran until it reached the rest of the herd.

Both the basketball game and the elk herd really struck home with me today on a spiritual level. As I watched the girls play this morning, working together as a unit to attempt to score, each doing their job and helping one another out, I was reminded of how we as Christians are all part of the body of Christ, different callings and different gifts, but all working together to lead the lost to Jesus. No one person is more important than another, but every member of the body of Christ is equally important. Just as the girls have a great coach for their team, Jesus is the head of the body Christ. If the girls didn’t listen to their coach and didn’t put into practice all that they had learned and worked so hard on, then they would just be running aimlessly up and down the court. In the same way, if we don’t listen to the voice of God, we will find ourselves wandering aimlessly through our lives with no definitive sense of purpose or direction, flailing in deep waters that we are unable to navigate. But if we will listen to Him and follow our leader, who was willing to lay down His life for us, then we will find the ultimate purpose for our lives as we pursue Him. Jesus was willing to give it all so that we would be able to live life to the very fullest in Him. He was willing to suffer for our redemption and deliverance, for our complete forgiveness and restoration, and so that we would be healed and never have to endure complete separation from Him in hell.

And I was reminded by the video of the elk herd how important it is that we endure. The elk must have felt completely helpless as it watched its entire herd getting farther and farther away, without knowing how it would be able to clear the fence. But, just when it could have given up, it began to run once again and finally got past the obstacle in its path. Many times in our own lives we become frustrated by the mountain in front of us, allowing doubt to consume us as we stare at the height and width of it, when the Lord is telling us that HE will take us up on the heights, that HE is able to move the mountain or move us over it! We simply cannot give up or give in, no matter how hopeless the situation may seem. We must run with everything that we have toward the prize, toward what the Lord has called us to do, toward HIM.

And of course, God had tied it all together for me with his Word as I read this morning in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27… “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” I love it when God speaks so clearly! I do not want to be as a man running aimlessly, but I will run full on, pressing forward toward the prize…in spite of what I see or feel, what I hear or think, I will press on in Him. I am running towards my Savior, running to Jesus.