Endurance

It's been a while since I've posted....

Lately, I've been studying about endurance and hanging in there for the spiritual long-haul. I think today's society and our demand for instant satisfaction make it tempting to give up on the journey of spiritual transformation.

We are so heavily conditioned to expect immediate results in in our drive-thru, fast-food, 21st century mentality, that we don't have a long-enough attention span to stick with our spiritual journey over the long-haul. It could be that the greatest threat to vibrant Christian spirituality in this day is APATHY. We don't get results--we get bored--we become apathetic--we move to the next "quick hit" opportunity.

With the Olympics just past, it is too tempting to pass up the imagery of the marathon and the marathon runner. How do they do it? How do they go the distance? How do they weather the pain, the pressure, the competition, the boredom, the monotony of that long, long run?

I know several marathon runners, and most of them talk about the mental discipline it takes to go the distance.

For those of us on the spiritual marathon to Christ-likeness, we need to depend wholly on the Spirit to carry us, but there is an element of mental discipline we need to stay the course.

There is an element of "intentionality" (a real word?) that is required of the follower of Christ. We have to be intentional about our spiritual life. We can't move forward in neutral. We can't allow ourselves to just be carried by the currents of our everyday existence. We have to willfully decided to follow Jesus every moment, every hour, every day.

That's tough work.