Finishing

There is a group of men with whom I have been engaged for the past 10 years or so.  We work at finding our particular purpose.  That is what has God uniquely designed us to do?  There are a series of exercises we do in order to discover that which include some reflection on significant events in our lives.  It is an impactful and helpful pursuit.  That pursuit is in some part responsible for this blog.  One of the things we talk about frequently is finishing well the race God has put before us.  Unfortunately, not many men do.

This has been a long and disjointed day.  Things have not gone as I had planned.  I have written 167 posts here in 166 days (there were 2 on day 1).  So I reasoned earlier this afternoon that it would be ok to miss a day.  Then it dawned on me.  This assignment is from the Lord.  I am doing this because He directed it.  So it is for Him not me.  Him not you.  Then it occurred to me that the key to finishing well is to finish each day well.  Each day I have to do the things that renew my relationship with Him.  Faithfully, through His grace.  To finish well, I have to finish each day well.

Does It Matter

There is a first time for everything.  This is the first time I am going to strongly recommend that you read something other than the Bible.  I just read a great article on Fox News, “Does the Bible still Matter in 2012?”  I would highly recommend reading it.  I would also recommend perusing some of the comments.  Do not spend a lot of time on that it will probably discourage, frustrate, or anger you.  Essentially the comments validate the report.

One of the points made is toward the end of the piece:

When survey participants were asked what frustrated them most about reading the Bible, the most oft-cited response was that they “never had enough time to read it.” The busy-ness of our lives often make it difficult for us to follow through on what we say we value.

As I have said elsewhere in this blog that is dead on.  John Eldredge and others have identified busy-ness as the spirit of the age.  We do not make time for what we say is important.

Renewal

A day or so ago I wrote about being dry in my relationship with the Lord.  I am not sure how you deal with that, but this morning I was thinking through that and some things became clearer for me.  I do not know about you but sometimes the Christian life becomes somewhat of a chore.  The prayer list gets longer.  Answers do not seem to be coming.  I feel somewhat useless since those prayers are not getting answered.

Sometimes I take on that  burden.  It is like if I do not pray enough then the things on the list will not happen.  It becomes overwhelming.

This morning I was feeling that way.  I stopped and just gave it up.  I spent time just giving all of it to the Lord.  I got in a position of surrender of all of the things that were on my plate or that I had added to my plate.  1 Peter 5:7 tells me that was what I was supposed to do.  Cast that all on Him.  Not take those burdens, but rather receive His grace.  That is refreshment.  That is renewal.