I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God
has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus~ Philippians 3:14
Ironically, my
favorite thing about Arizona is also one of the weirdest things about the area.
It’s the wildlife. The wildlife is close (alarmingly so, at times), plentiful
and the variety of creatures is amazing and diverse. Since my arrival, I have
seen coyotes, weird toads that sound like sheep when they croak, birds of all
types, bobcats, gila monsters, javelinas, desert tortoises, rattlesnakes, lizards,
bugs of every variety, pack rats and rabbits.
Many of the animals
here are seemingly oblivious to humans and will come into fairly close contact
with people; coyotes and javelinas roam through the neighborhood in packs.
Lizards are everywhere and when it’s hot snakes will take residence in the
swimming pool and on your front porch. A
few animals come into our yard often enough that I have gotten to know their
personalities and quirks. There is a lizard that lives in our pomegranate tree
that watches me swim in the mornings, a mockingbird that will come right up to
the window and yell at us while we eat breakfast and a pack of javelinas that
have taken to eating any flowers I plant in the front yard.
By far my favorite
critter is a scrawny little rabbit that I have named Foxface (Hunger Games fans will get it). The
first time I saw this little guy was last summer right after we moved into the
house. He came into our backyard early in the morning searching for food and
shelter. The poor little guy looked hot, hungry and hassled, but thankful to be
out of the desert.
He has since become a
regular visitor. He exhibits a healthy fear of humans but has found something
that will entice him to come near the house: grass. We don’t have a lot of it,
but the little that we do have he loves. Evidently, green grass is the luxury food of
choice for desert bunnies. He is so determined to nibble our lawn that he will
come into the yard when I am outside and has even allowed me photograph him
while he eats his breakfast. It’s obvious that he’s terrified but he persists
because he knows what he wants.
Foxface is a textbook
picture of resolve and tenacity; he displays a dogged determination to get what
he wants. He’s willing to overcome very real dangers, what must be nearly
overwhelming fear and his own natural instincts to get the thing he’s after.
After observing
Foxface for a number of months I have concluded that my little bunny friend
goes after my lawn the way we should all go after our spiritual growth. In Philippians
3:10-14 the Apostle Paul shares his own determination to pursue growth and
relationship with Christ.
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and
participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to
the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or
have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took
hold of me. Brothers and
sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I
do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on
toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus~
Last weekend, as I was watching Foxface
gobble up my lawn and marveling at his perseverance I was reminded of a
conversation I had with a Christian friend years ago. He said that perseverance
is the surest sign of salvation that there is. He was getting at the idea that
making a commitment is easy, but it’s the follow-through that counts. If there
is no follow-through then the reality of our commitment is questionable.
Perseverance means making the same declaration Paul did and then going after it
with all we’ve got. We pursue growth and knowledge of Christ by…
Setting aside the things that hinder us~
Hebrews 12:1
This
might sound strange, but when I watch that crazy rabbit snack on my grass I am
overcome with awe at his courage. Every instinct he has tells him to stay away
but he powers through his fear to get at his prize. We all have hindrances that
stand in the way of the prize of spiritual growth: worldly passions, friends or
family members who actively or passively discourage our progress, wrong
thinking, bad habits, and the residue of childhood trauma all conspire to hold
us back from becoming the people Christ has called us to be. Sometimes it’s
fear that holds us back; we can’t imagine what life would look like without our
pet sin to give us comfort in times of stress. The answer is to live life
courageously and intentionally, continually letting go of unhealthy or sinful
attitudes and behaviors and replacing them with healthy ones. It is vitally important
that we surround ourselves with people who support and encourage our growth,
and that we put boundaries around people who do not.
Treating Christianity as a contest to be
won~ 1st Corinthians 9:24-27
Modern Christians tend to view
Christianity as a user-friendly self-help program with Jesus as the ultimate
life coach. Embracing this approach to
the Christian life creates an atmosphere of weak-willed, country club
Christianity that makes discipleship optional and weakens our resolve to
persevere through the tough stuff. The Apostle Paul saw the Christian life as a
battle to be fought and contest to be won. I think we would all do well to
adopt the same mindset. Contests and battles are won by paying careful attention
to the rules, training our minds and bodies to be obedient, and going after the
prize with single-minded devotion.
Setting Goals for growth~ 2nd
Corinthians 5:9-10
Goal setting is not something that we
normally associate with our Christian walk. Most of us tend to assume that if
we read our Bibles and attend Church on a regular basis we will turn into
better people; sadly this is not necessarily true. Bible reading and church
attendance are good things but they are pretty squishy as far as goals go.
Strong goals are specific, achievable and constantly evolving. Strong spiritual
goals deal with real behavior like anger, gossip, and lust, as well as real
solutions like learning to deal with not only our urges but also the thoughts
and feelings that lie behind those urges. Setting goals for spiritual growth is
not about simply gritting our teeth and changing outward behavior. We have to
get at the core of what caused the problem in the first place; we do that
through a process that begins with being real with God and ourselves about our
sin and ends with an unshakeable promise to change our behavior.
~
It’s easy to lose sight of why Christian
growth is important; once we know our eternal state is secure we can easily fall
into the trap of using our faith as nothing more than a ‘get out of hell free
card’. The tragedy of this reality is that we end up cheating the world and
ourselves when we get too lazy, busy, or distracted to pursue Christ in our
day-to day-lives.
Pursuit
of Christ transforms us into kinder, gentler, wiser and even smarter versions
of ourselves. When we choose not to grow we shortchange ourselves by not being equipped
for the challenges of today or the reality of eternity with a holy God. We cheat the world because they miss out on
that better version of ourselves and may be turned off to Christ due to our
willful neglect of spiritual progress.
Spiritual growth doesn’t just happen. It’s
a choice, one that requires resolve, tenacity and devotion to the cause. The
advantage of making that decision is that once we make it we don’t do it alone.
We are blessed and empowered by God every step of the way.
Look
to the Lord and his strength; seek
his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced~ 1st
Chronicles 16:11-12
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