January 29, 2018 - Pursuit of Excellence/Success

I write and share a daily devotion for our upper school students and the staff at Statesville Christian School... today I wrote one that had an athletic theme, so therefore I am taking it a bit easy tonight in just sharing that...

Daily Devotions: January 29, 2018

Theme: Success

Perspective: This week I decided to go back to a very familiar passage of Scripture and try to encourage us in our pursuit of excellence… or pursuit of success in our Christian walks.

I’ll start with a simple question; do you want to honor the Lord with your life? And now the harder question, if yes, are you being successful in that pursuit? Often times we sincerely want something but fail to get it… why?

I am going to share a quote I saw this week from JJ Watt: “If you won’t sacrifice for what you want, what you want will become the sacrifice.”

Hebrew 12:1 Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…

A few things jump out at me when reading these verses and thinking about success… one major word is the word “easy” that is used to describe the “sin that ensnares us.” The Scriptures are telling us that it is easy for any of us to mess up and not be successful.

So, I want to break down a few basics in light of these verses (and the quote from JJ.) First is the fact that it is not just sin that slows us down… the verse mentions the “weight” and the “sin”…

Application: The idea of sacrifice, is that of laying something on the alter… getting rid of some things. The quote I shared indicates that in order to obtain success we need to consciously “sacrifice” some things…

In the sports world of JJ Watt, I am sure that he gave up many things that other people his age were doing in order to spend more time in the gym or on the practice field… and as a result turned into one of the elite football players to ever put on the pads.

In our pursuit of honoring God, maybe we need to consider what things that are slowing us down and keeping us from success. I often hear excuses that people don’t have time to read the Word, or to pray, or to have a quiet time; but do they have time for social networking or television shows or… and the list could go on… Could they go to bed 30 minutes earlier, so they could get up earlier for a quiet time? Could they evaluate friendships and make sure they are surrounding themselves with encouragers in the faith?

Today I encourage you to take an inventory of your life and see what things are slowing you down. I am not keying here on “bad” things but instead the idea of “weights.” (A runner does not set out for a race with weights hanging around his neck.) I am encouraging you to consider sacrificing some things in order to make time for the things that will helpful in your pursuit.

(This is true for spiritual matters and any area of life that you long to be successful in.)