On our daily 8 mile commute to work early on a morning, we regularly see people out running! It’s not just an odd person (by odd, I mean a single runner), but we often will pass 4 or 5 individual runners. Who gets up early to start their day with a run before 5am, even during the winter months?
The church we work at is situated across the road from the towns leisure centre. They open the doors of their gym at 6:30am and judging by the numbers of cars that I see arriving, they are quite full for the first hour.
In our staff devotions this week, we were talking about how vital a quiet time is to our growing relationship with Jesus. As I reflected on what was shared, I was drawn to the comparison with the dedicated runners or gym goers that we regularly see. Why is it that people wanting to get fit or who are wanting to run a marathon, are happy to put the training in; to get up early; to endure the pain and discomfort; and to even change their diet? But often as followers of Jesus, we’re not motivated enough to get up a bit earlier to spend time with him?
Often, we try to avoid the discomforts of life and instead we chase after comfort from the wrong source. When Moses had led God’s people out of the bondage of Egypt, the Israelites sought comfort from the wrong things, things that ultimately stopped them entering the promised land.
What I’m finding, as we continue our Time2 journey, is that our journey may be a little uncomfortable; we may have to put the “training” in; we may have to push ourselves; we may have to give up things. But when we look at the vision He’s given us and when we see the hurt and pain that some of the church leaders we know are enduring, then the prize makes all the discomfort worth it. Jesus never promised us a comfort filled life, in fact following Him isn’t meant to be comfortable, He told us that we need to pick up our cross daily and follow Him.
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