In the world of sport we often say that you need to learn to walk before you can jog and then learn to jog before you can run as running is the goal. For so many years every time I approached my walk with God I always thought of this slogan and the way things were supposed to be with him.
Over time this put an enormous amount of pressure on me and those around me as this approach was based on performance and a programme of ongoing progress and not on a place of rest and being. The more I delved into it the more I discovered that this depended on me and God had very little to say or do in it. Until of course I was able to finally run. To add to this I didn’t exactly know how fast or far I needed to run either but I guess this didn’t really matter so much until I got there if I ever did.
The truth is that in our spiritual walk it is the complete opposite though many of us do not realise this. You see many of us start the race running full of enthusiasm often fueled by the need to give something back to this wonderful God who just saved us from hell. Over time we begin to notice that though we are running fast we have noticed very little or in fact have not had the chance to experience very much if anything at all of this God that saved us. We grow tired as the energy we have to keep us running comes mainly from our doing and before long it begins to dawn on us that much of what this running is about is external and not internal. This leads many of us to think that there is something wrong with us so instead of slowing right down we start jogging. We do this for a while however once again after a while we find ourselves growing tired and soon we begin to walk. This is not what we hear that is supposed to happen from our “the winner takes it all mentality approach” however this walking becomes our reality which for so many of us feels like defeat and unfaithfulness.
How untrue and deceiving this kind of thinking is!
You see today many of us feel guilty because we are not running with God. We feel there is something wrong with us because we don’t seem to be making as much progress as others. The truth is that you are EXACTLY where God wants you. The progress others make is only on the outside. You may not be covering as much distance outside however inside thats a very different story now that you are walking. We need to understand that when we live from within we walk whereas when we live from without we often feel the impulse and pressure to run. When we walk we hear, we see, we feel, and we therefore discover. Walking from within means that the results of our lives depend on him and not on what we accomplish because of how far and fast we can manage to run. Yes there might be times we can and may have to run fast however we will do this from an energy that comes from within and not one that pressures us from without.
Today remember that Jesus invited us to a walk that looks a lot more like a life long marathon, where breaks are allowed, and a lot less like a 100 meter dash.
Have a great week and remember to enjoy the walk home…
-pablo-
Photo by Unknown
