Tag Archives: keep your eyes on the prize

Bear Patiently with Suffering

Posted on February 20, 2022 by expressyourself4him

Patience is one of my weakest traits. No matter how hard I try, I usually find myself in a hurry to get to somewhere. Slowing down and forced to travel at someone else’ pace isn’t my style. If patience is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:22, bearing patiently with suffering takes an added degree of faith. This is one of many areas where I still have a long way to go and mature spiritually.

[After all] what [f]kind of glory [is there in it] if, when you do wrong and are punished for it, you take it patiently? But if you bear patiently with suffering [which results] when you do right and that is undeserved, it is acceptable and pleasing to God, 1 Peter 2:20.

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis states that success is the process of arriving. Before you achieve any dream or goal in life, failure is one of many obstacles that you will have to endure. As you continue on the journey called life, you will be embarrassed, humiliated, and filled with disappointment on a weekly basis. Yet, if you keep the faith and bear patiently with suffering, God has called Christians to be faithful, not successful.

Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God’s favor) in which we [firmly and safely] stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God. 3 Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. 4 And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of [c]character (approved faith and [d]tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] [e]joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation, Romans 5:2-4.

In the passage above, the apostle Paul is essentially saying, “keep your eyes on the prize.” Like the words of Jesus’ earthly brother in James 1:2-4, your spiritual journey is never ending. Whenever you taste the agony of defeat, it’s by God’s grace that you can get right back up and stand again. If you can develop the mindset that every affliction, hardship, and trial is an opportunity for spiritual growth, it won’t be long before you too will be able to bear patiently with suffering.

by Jay Mankus

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Born to Win

Posted on February 28, 2021 by expressyourself4him

C.S. Lewis defines progress as the process of arriving in his book Mere Christianity. Meanwhile, winning is gaining victory in a contest or competition. If you are a perfectionist like me, you are probably keeping score of your wins and losses daily. However, if life is more like a marathon than a sprint, pacing yourself and participating in strict training is essential for success. If you believe in Romans 8:28-29, then you are born to win.

[But the Lord rebukes Jeremiah’s impatience, saying] If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take to flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling and flooding of the Jordan? – Jeremiah 12:5

If this is your destiny, it’s easy to become overconfident along the way. This complacency often results in poor training habits, becoming out of shape spiritually. The analogy above is designed to illustrate what you can handle and what you can’t. If you aren’t able to be competitive in a race against other men, you won’t have a shot at progressing to the next level. When you’re born to win, just showing up each day won’t get it done.

And have you [completely] forgotten the divine word of appeal and encouragement in which you are reasoned with and addressed as sons? My son, do not think lightly or scorn to submit to the correction and discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage and give up and faint when you are reproved or corrected by Him; Hebrews 12:5.

Integrity is doing what’s right when nobody is looking. Therefore, being born to win requires added responsibility. The context of the passage above begins with an image of dead Christians, looking down from heaven, cheering you on as you compete in the race of life. The author of Hebrews encourages readers to keep your eyes on the prize, fixated on the cross of Christ. Just like keeping your head up while running maintains your momentum, keeping your eyes on heaven will secure victory in the end, 1 John 5:13.

by Jay Mankus

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