Gal 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
Gal 5:12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

So just how important is this race in which we’ve been entered? How significant is it to complete this course and fulfill its purpose? This is obviously a perception that is subject to influence and vulnerable to the ingestion of a diverting focus or interest.

You know, starting off on a course is quite often the easiest part. It’s when the idea of acquiring the prize has yet to come against its greatest opposition. Although it may be difficult to just get to the starting line and actually enter the race, and while there may be a warming up period, especially the older you get, once the gun goes off, at least everyone’s headed in the right direction and in their assigned lanes. If it were just a 50 or 100 yard dash it might be more feasible to at least finish the course, but the particular running that’s referred to here is cross country and long distance. There will be a leg of it to be run every day that we live and each one of those legs is incredibly important in its function of propelling us closer to the prize of a fulfilled purpose in Christ.

This is a race that is destined for many alterations of terrain and various challenging obstacles, but the greatest hindrance to actually making it to the end is more often than not an inner challenge or diversion rather than anything outward. Maybe it is something that has been physically ingested, or possibly someone has been allowed to alter the conviction of just how important it is to complete this course. Having been given this incredible destination of unequaled magnitude and greatness; having been provided the most gratifying means of arriving at that destination, we will be most hindered in getting there by what is allowed to fill us, surround us and who we allow to affect the impression of our treasure’s importance. If we can be diverted by an illness, if what we are looking at or hearing is calling us to another passion, and, if the people that have our ear are causing the beauty and glory of our promised land to diminish at all in its place of honor in our hearts, these inward challenges will deplete the very source of our motivating drive- our vision.

Jesus had this incredible purpose of unparalleled significance. He came to this earth for the greatest reason of redeeming all of mankind from bondage to sin and death. This is what was set before Him, but throughout His life I’m sure He had endless opportunities to have other passions supplant His fixation on His ultimate destination. According to earthly standards, dying on the cross wouldn’t appear to be the Father’s best or the reward of a righteous life. What waited beyond that obstacle, however, was the focus of His heart. He protected this focus and kept it above all others as they presented themselves.

At an early age Jesus’ parents impressed on Him the importance of family, to which He replied that He had to be about His Father’s business. It wasn’t that He didn’t appreciate His parents or His responsibility to them, but, as close as they were to His heart, He had found a focus that He couldn’t allow to be diminished by family ties.

I’m sure that Jesus could have and would have been the most financially prosperous person of His time had that ever been a part of His ultimate destination. Whenever presented with the importance of riches, however,- the rich young ruler, Mary’s costly oil, taxes, and the significance of the temple riches- Jesus appeared to almost look down on them as not worthy of any prolonged consideration. Rising far above them in His priority structure was the importance of laying down one’s life. Even if He had ever risen to wealth by worldly standards, there could never have been a regard for those riches with any level of equality to His higher purpose.

Socially and relationally Jesus was very active. He went to wedding feasts, frequented public gatherings, and hung out with those He chose as friends for much of His recorded life. Whenever these relationships, however, challenged the importance of His elevated focus, He quickly brought things into perspective once again. Although He loved Peter very dearly, Jesus didn’t hesitate to identify and locate satan as the source of Peter’s comment when it countered what He had just prophesied about His own death. A true savoring of the things of God could not tolerate a desire for the base things of this world.

For those who have made the start and are even now running towards that higher destination in Christ, there will be people and things that will potentially hinder the progress that is so essential to knowing the fullness of God’s purpose. While each of these things may be worthwhile and honorable in themselves, whenever they begin to hinder in any way our progress in Christ, they must be identified and put in their place. No matter the value or significance of that person or thing, if it in any way alters or reduces our focus on the prize, our vision of the promise, or our taste for God’s things, this must be identified and adjustments applied if there is to be any progress made. These adjustments will not come just by acknowledgement of their need alone, though. Where there is a developed taste for these things, it can only really be removed by a renewed appreciation for our race’s destination, our completed purpose in Him. Allowing Jesus to rise once again in clarity and focus will bring into perspective the reality of those other hindrances and their rightful place. Anything that would inhibit passionate pursuit of God’s way will be shunned and despised in the atmosphere of His revealed presence and purpose.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 at 5:59 am and is filed under Passion, The Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.