How to Keep Going

I find myself not completely overwhelmed right now. I received a notice regarding student loans this afternoon and this help to add some more anxiety to an already anxiety-filled life, but I do not feel overwhelmed at the present moment. You can even say I feel peaceful. Both knees and ankles have been feeling discomfort all day and nothing so far has helped. Things can seem pretty bleak at times.

Wiersbe talks about how to keep going when facing life challenges. This particular example is from the life of Paul.

"He knew that wherever he went there would be trouble and pain and persecution. Some of his friends warned him to protect himself and escape. But the great apostle Paul was not the kind of person who ran away from difficulty or challenge. This is why, in Acts 20:24, he said to his friends, "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." (p. 65).

Paul was not moved by the difficulties he faced. That is extreme confidence in the face of hardship. Paul knew he had a mission and he faced it with determination. Wiersbe looks particularly at three parts of this text, "my life", "my course", and "my ministry".

"Jesus told His disciples, "He that sayeth his life shall lose it, but he that loseth his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." He also said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."

Your life is a gift from God. "In him we live, and move, and have our being." Even before you were born, God knew you and had a purpose for your life. Your talents and abilities, your interests, your strengths, and even your weaknesses, are all a part of a divine plan. God gave you natural life, but He also gave you spiritual life through faith in Jesus Christ. God made you and God saved you. The life you have, physically and spiritually, is the gift of God.

Paul did not keep this gift for himself. He gave it back to God for Him to use for the glory of Jesus Christ. He said, "Neither count I my life dear unto myself .... " There is a principle in the spiritual life that says whatever you keep, you lose; whatever you give, you possess forever: If you count your life dear to yourself, and protect your own interests, and pamper yourself, then you will never really live. But if you yield yourself to the Lord and let Him control your life, you will enjoy abundant life." (p. 66).

This is a crucial point. Jesus calls us to lose our life so that we may save it. Paul regarded his life as a gift from God and with his life he poured himself out even to the point of his detriment. Retirement is always a good illustration of this. If we look at the life of Moses, then we realize that the Christian never has a real sense of retirement. I don't think it is wrong to go on vacation, but I think that the idea is that we regard our life as a gift from God and should be giving it in a life of service.

The second part to the text is the course we are on.

"In Philippians 3 and Hebrews 12, God compares the Christian life to a race, and He assigns each Christian runner his own special lane. The important thing is that we obey the rules, keep running for the prize, and stay in the correct lane. If we do, then God will reward us at the end of the course. If we fail to run as we should, we will lose our reward.

What keeps us from running the race as we should? Sometimes we get out of training." (p. 67).

Paul often uses the metaphor of a race when describing the Christian life. There are rules to the race. There is training for the race which includes diet, exercise and mental fitness. There are many good comparisons to our spiritual life and health. In order to run with endurance, we must be in the best possible spiritual shape of our lives. Wiersbe mentions two hindrances. Sometimes we look back and sometimes we look at the runners in the other lane. We are to do neither. We keep our eyes ahead and fix our eyes on Jesus. Lastly, each of us has a ministry, a mission God has called each of us to.

"Each of us has a special ministry from the Lord that no one can do for us. It is our ministry, assigned to us by the Lord, and we are responsible to finish it for His glory.. We never should envy somebody else because of his or her ministry, because the work God has given us to do is just as important in the eyes of God." (p. 69).

Prayer:

Father, thank You for the example of the Apostle Paul, his life and ministry. He pressed on with confidence no matter what he faced. I realize how out of shape I am both physically and spiritual for the race. Physically and spiritually I cannot run. I likely have arthritis in my joints, but I see also that I have a kind of spiritual arthritis that keeps me in much discomfort and immobile at times. God, You have given me a purpose. At times, I am really not sure what it is. So it is with that that I pray for clarity and direction. I pray also that You enable me to heal from my physical and spiritual arthritis that I may be able to run with perseverance the race marked out for me.