There was a time in my life when I volunteered on the ambulance with two local EMS stations in Pennsylvania where I lived. I was a trained EMT and equipped to help a hurting person.
During my times of duty, I was prepared to run at a moment’s notice. I had no idea when my ever-present pager would sound an alarm. At night, I would sleep fully dressed in my EMT garb. My boots were parked by the door. My car was backed up to the house and the keys were lying on the nightstand. I was prepared!
Some nights my pager never sounded. Other nights, the pager would beep loudly, disturbing a deep sleep. All my preparation time paid off and within seconds of the alarm I was driving down the road. Every second counted. I had to be prepared at all times.
It is no secret that athletes who play in the Olympic games often dedicate most of their life toward preparing for the game. They want nothing more than to reach the goal of winning that medal. But they must prepare! They do not wake up one morning and decide to travel to the Olympics that day to compete for the gold medal. If they want to win, they need to prepare. If they want that gold medal award, they need to train.
By about the age of 14, a British athlete will have decided on which sport to focus. At that point, he will begin to pour his life into training. An incredible amount of commitment, resources, and investment is needed to compete on the highest stage. The average elite athlete trains six hours a day, six days a week, twelve months a year. His goal? To win!
One athlete said, “All the hard work will be worth it, though, to simply compete in front of a home crowd—and to win a medal would just be a dream come true.”
As a Kingdom Christian, I look at a quote like this and say, “how frivolous and empty.” But I ask you, young person: if they give everything that they have to win something so temporal, what are you giving to win something so eternal? What are you giving for a reward that will outlast anything on this earth—a reward that has value out of this world?
Paul used a runner as an example of how we should run in our Christian life: Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain –1Co 9:24. You are to run this race of the Christian life in such a way that you may win! I ask you, are you preparing to win? Are you running in such a way that you will win?
Let’s take a brief look at two observations from an Olympic athlete and then make practical applications to our spiritual walk.
Observation #1: Exercise must be an everyday occurrence for an athlete.
Pro athletes don’t train because they must. They grow up wanting nothing more than to play their sport for the rest of their lives. But to do so, they know that making exercise a part of everyday life is essential to winning. It doesn’t matter if they run, lift weights, or go for a walk, athletes in training will get into a habit of daily exercise. It is as much a part of their day as brushing their teeth or combing their hair.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible –1Co 9:25. As a Christian, if your goal is to be faithful to the end and win the race of your Christian life, then you will need to become serious about your spiritual exercises. In fact, daily spiritual exercises are essential to staying fit for this intense race.
Exercise must be an everyday occurrence for a Christian. Read your Bible as though your life depends on it—because it does! Pray and stay connected to Jesus with the same purpose of heart that an athlete drinks fluid. (Did you know that drinking fluids is the most important part of an athlete’s diet?) Pray as though your life depends on it—because it does!
Observation #2: An athlete in training gets the results he deserves.
It is so hard to get up early in the morning when you’re snuggled under the covers and it’s dark and cold outside. But an athlete in training knows that if he doesn’t get up to practice and exercise, he will lose. He knows that the more he exercises, the better chance he has of winning. An athlete in training knows that he will be rewarded for his time spent in preparing. There will be results from choosing to exercise.
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace –Rom 8: 4-6.
As a Christian, what you feed will grow. You will either be feeding the flesh, or you will be feeding the Spirit. If you want to win the race and reach the reward of being restored to how you were really meant to live, then you will need to be spiritually minded and feed the things of the Spirit. Now let’s consider a partial list of things that depending how or why we do it, will determine whether we are feeding our flesh or the Spirit.
Hunting and getting meat for the freezer is a very natural activity for survival and has been done for centuries. But when you go hunting to get the biggest buck to boost your ego and self-esteem, that is feeding your flesh.
Listening to the world’s music will not do a thing to feed and exercise the spiritual man. But your flesh will be richly fed.
Following and/or playing in the professional sports world will not help you in winning the spiritual race. In fact, you will lose if you feed your flesh unheedingly.
Gluttony and/or consuming unhealthy food and drink will not help your spiritual man grow in the Lord. In fact, it will only feed your craving for more and more. Let’s be careful that whether we eat or drink we are doing it to God’s glory.
My dear friend, the simple fact remains: if you do not persevere in disciplining your spiritual life, you will lose! So, what are you exercising and feeding—your flesh or the Spirit? Remember, when the natural man grows, there is no more room for the spiritual man to grow.
Reaching Forth and Pressing Toward
Paul says, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus –Php 3:13-14.
There’s a pressing and a reaching that must happen in your Christian life if you want to win. You don’t just get by with doing the minimum in the Christian life—God calls that lukewarmness and the Bible says He will vomit a lukewarm person out of His mouth (see Rev. 3:16). God is not looking for half-hearted overcomers. He is looking for ‘more than conquerors’. There is no room for lukewarmness in the kingdom of God!
To prepare ourselves to win this race, we cannot get by without discipline and self-sacrifice. Are you a disciplined person in your spiritual life? How does it compare to your physical work and hobbies? Do you get up early for a physical sport you enjoy? Do you make sure you’re at your job on time?
Do you have the same drive to get up early and discipline yourself in your spiritual life? Do you reach for your Bible as eagerly as you reach for your softball glove? Do you reach for your Bible as eagerly as you reach for that can of pop? Do you reach for your Bible as eagerly as you reach for your gun or bow to go hunting? Do you reach for your Bible as eagerly as you reach for your phone? Do you spend more time focusing on your spiritual life than you do dressing yourself and combing your hair? Do you care more what your friends think or what Jesus thinks?
There’s a big social media craze to show everyone what you’re doing and gain approval of men. Viewing social media postings will rob you of your spiritual focus. Posting on social media sites for all to see feeds a craving for approval of men.
There are many social media sites and apps out there. However, there’s one app that creates similar cravings, but in a more subtle way. It’s an app that lets you tell others “what’s up”. This app is named WhatsApp. This app is very useful for texting, especially with our acquaintances who are overseas. But included in WhatsApp is a button called Status. It allows you to post things for others to see. It allows you to see what your friends are doing right now—what their status is!
Posting one’s activities and life’s events online for the world to see has become a gripping drive and craving for attention—a crave for the approval of men. If you feed this drive, it will grow. Ask yourself these questions, “Does posting my status on WhatsApp bring glory to God? Does checking social media sites to see what others are doing and how they are dressed draw me closer to God? Am I more eager to check the status of my friends than I am to open my Bible and check the status of my walk with God?” Is the time you spend on your phone making you better prepared to win this race?
The Demand for Your Time
How much time do you spend exercising? If an athlete would do one push-up a day, do you think he would win? If an athlete who desperately wants to win that gold medal would only walk 1/10 of a mile each day, do you think he would win?
So, as you prepare to meet God and win this race, is one Bible verse a day enough for you to win? Is one minute of prayer time each day with your Savior enough for you to fight the intense spiritual battles with the enemy?
Take time to read your Bible—your life depends on it for survival! Take time to pray—you cannot run this race without it!
“I got up early one morning, and rushed
right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t
have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me, and
heavier came each task;
“Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered.
He answered, “You didn’t ask.”
I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day
toiled on gray and bleak;
I wondered why God didn’t show me. He
said, “But you didn’t seek.”
I tried to come into God’s presence; I used
all my keys in the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided, “My
child, you didn’t knock.”
I woke up early this morning, and paused
before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish that I had to
take time to pray.”
-anonymous
The demands for our time could not be greater. Technological conveniences are shaping our lives. Our booming economy is reaching for our time. We are living in spiritually dangerous times! Have the demands and distractions of life lessened your time in spiritual exercise? Does it concern you when your prayer time and Bible reading time diminishes because you simply don’t have time?
Remove Distractions
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, –Heb 12:1.
The Greek word for weight describes it as a hindrance. Are there activities or habits that hinder you from giving all you have to run this race? Is there something that is hindering your exercise—your spiritual growth?
The Greek word for beset describes it as to distract or compete. Are there sins distracting you from the race? Are there things that you do that compete with your spiritual exercises?
Maybe busyness is the weight that’s hindering your race. Maybe spiritual apathy is your sin—apathy is a lack of interest or concern. You’ve gone to sleep spiritually, and you simply do not care. Maybe things the world highly esteems are competing with your spiritual life and exercise—things such as wealth, sports, and popularity. The world highly esteems clothing? Did you ever go shopping and buy a piece of clothing you didn’t really need, just because it was nice—a new style?
Maybe your weight or distraction is simply a lack of vision for the kingdom of God. The Bible says that where there is no vision, the people perish. If you do not have a vision, you will perish. Plainly stated, you will lose the race and go to hell if you do not have a vision for the Kingdom of God!
I encourage you to open your life before the Lord—ask Him these serious questions.
- “God, are my priorities straight?”
- “God, do I value what you value?”
- “God, am I lacking vision?”
- “God, am I reaching for things that don’t last?”
- “God, am I too busy running after things that hinder my running?”
- “God, what is my weight—what is my hindrance?”
This is all about preparing to meet the Lord and preparing for our eternal destiny. It’s all about being effective soldiers in His kingdom. If you refuse to run the race well here on earth and be faithful, do you think God wants you in heaven?
Maybe you need to get desperate with God. Maybe you need to make some radical changes in your life—changes to your schedule, your focus, your activities, your pursuits.
No Man Knows the Time
All of us have an appointed time of death on God’s calendar. You have no idea which day of which year your name is listed on God’s calendar. It could be that you have only one more week here on this earth.
There is also another appointed date on God’s calendar that only He knows. It is that great day when Jesus will return and end all life and time on this earth. Maybe that day will come while you and I are still here. Maybe it will come next week. How prepared are you at all times for your appointment with God?
Jesus said, Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh –Mat 24:44. Your appointment with God will happen when you’re not thinking about it.
A Prepared Place
Only prepared people will be rewarded with this perfect eternal place of peace and rest that Jesus is preparing. Heaven is a holy and prepared place for only holy and prepared people. Try to imagine how it would be if everything evil and rotten would be non-existent. No rust. No decay. No pain. No aging. No darkness. No sin. Read Revelation 21 and 22 for graphic descriptions of this prepared place—Heaven! The Bible says that there will be no more curse. Can you imagine a place with no more curse? Living in a place that is ravaged by the curse, we know of nothing different. All creation travails under the curse that man’s sin in the garden brought on us. But at the end of this life, God will reverse this curse! Think of it—death will be stopped. Chaos will be brought back to order. There will be no hunger, no thirst, no need of sun, no night, no sorrow, no crying, no pain, no tears. The pain and struggle that sin brought to this earth will simply BE NO MORE!
Heaven will be filled with the fulness of God’s glory. Those who prepared and won this race will be in the very presence of God—they will be like Him! Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is –1Jn 3:2.
Just as the physical sun sustains life on earth, so Jesus, the Son of God will sustain life in Heaven. He will be the source of everything needed to live in heaven—He will be the source and sustainer of life and hope for all eternity. But while the redeemed are enjoying the fulness of God in heaven, those in hell will be experiencing the complete opposite, most of all will be the absence of God.
Hell is the absence of God and all His attributes. No light—only pitch-black darkness. No bottom of gravity—only falling. No seasons—only intense heat. No rest—only constant gnashing of teeth and screaming. No water—only parched dry mouths. Nothing beautiful—only flames. No love—only hatred for the devil and his angels. No joy—only sorrow. No healing—only pain, pain, pain. No hope—only an eternal future of torment and regret. The curse in its fullest—with no restraints and no reverse!
What Will Your Last Words Be?
Ponder these last words of people who rejected Christ’s sacrifice:
Adams, an infidel said, “I’m lost, lost, lost. I am damned forever.” His agony was so great that as he died, he tore the hair from his head.
On his deathbed, Sir Julian Huxley, an English evolutionist, biologist, and staunch atheist said, “So it is true after all, so it is true after all.”
Cesare Borgia was a famous writer and politician who was a meticulous planner and planned everything to the minutest detail. When he knew he was dying he said, “When I lived, I provided for everything except death. Now I must die, and I am totally unprepared and unprovided.”
But the final words of the unbeliever are vastly different from those who believe in Jesus Christ. When Christians die, they often report, on their death bed, of seeing angels. Quite often they hear the most beautiful singing they’ve ever heard. The closer to death, the more beautiful the sound.
Charles Spurgeon said on his deathbed: “I can hear them coming!” He sat straight up in bed and asked: “Don’t you hear them? This is my coronation day. I can see the chariots, I’m ready to board.”
The final words of Augustus Toplady, author of the song Rock of Ages were, “All is light, light, light.”
Dwight L. Moody, a famous preacher, while on his deathbed said, “Can this be death? Why, it is better than living! Earth is receding, heaven is opening. This is my coronation day.”
What will your last words be on this earth? Are you daily preparing for eternity—your real home? Are you running as if your life depended on it? Your eternal destiny does.
Sources:
Last Words <http://www.pdegraaf.com/articles/last_words.pdf>
