Ready:
“Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” —Послание галатам 6:9
Set:
It stands to reason that if a basketball player shoots 10,000+ shots over the summer their shot will improve. Shooting shots at different distances, different speeds and with different defenders all lead to improvement. Not many players do this. Why not? Because it takes effort.
Similarly, effort is exactly what the spiritual life with Jesus Christ takes. No one is granted or gifted a mature spiritual life the moment they receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. Each one must start on day one learning what being a follower of Jesus is like. We share and teach things like how to pray, read and study the Bible. We put effort into learning to apply what we read to our life and we give effort to walking in obedience.
These practices are not a program where you do them for a period of time and then you finish. We don’t graduate from the school of Christian life and discipleship with Jesus. We don’t graduate from this life until we enter heaven and we are with Jesus.
The Scripture highlighted from Galatians 6:9 clearly instructs us to keep doing good. Keep doing the right things —this takes effort. Stay at it. Don’t quit. In time, by staying at it and not quitting, we will reap the benefits, which are the qualities of life with Jesus. The writer of this Scripture was Paul. He was the one who was shipwrecked three times, on the open sea floating on a piece of board for a day and night and beaten several times. He was often without food and water. He was put in prison several times because he was speaking about Jesus and yet he continued to put in the effort to follow Jesus.
We are often quick to give effort to making gains in our competitive life. Let us also be quick to give effort to growing in our spiritual life.
Go:
What are a few fundamentals of a workout, where you repeat them over and over, that gives you greater ability? How hard is it to keep giving so much effort?
How is your journey to maturity in Jesus going? Do you give that part of your life much effort?
Workout:
Overtime:
“Lord Jesus, thank you for enduring the hardest thing of life, of giving up Your life on the Cross for me. I need Your help and strength to keep living right and doing the right things. Fill me with courage to keep going. I couldn’t make it without You. Thank you. Amen.”