Press On!

I have a certain fitness goal that I’ve yet to attain.  It’s not an impossible goal, but it is a difficult one.  In fact, it gets more difficult as the years go by.  Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever reach the goal.  I do know one thing for certain.  If I quit trying, I’ll never reach the goal.  So I press on!

How many times have you said, “I’m going to lose “x” number of pounds?  You made the decision and came up with a plan to reach the goal.  You committed to exercise regularly and to follow a good diet.  You got off to a great start, exercising enough to have a sore body, and eating salads until you felt like you were growing rabbit ears.  It felt good to have sore muscles and you started seeing results right away.  Your clothes started to fit better and the bathroom scale rewarded you with a smaller number.  In fact, you felt so good about your progress you decided you deserved a reward.  So you headed to Chick-fil-A to get a small banana pudding milkshake.  When you reached the drive-thru window, you conveniently left off the word “small” when you placed your order.  But that was okay.  You deserved the reward for your hard work.  You had attained 20% of your goal.  Surely, one large banana pudding shake wouldn’t hurt.

As you headed home, you remembered your dinner party was that night, and somebody was bringing cake.  If only you hadn’t had the LARGE shake!  But when everyone arrived, they congratulated you on how great you looked, and offered you a piece of cake.  You couldn’t turn that down.  By then, you decided the weekend was blown anyway, so you indulged in all the things you’d given up for the past few weeks.  You could start over on Monday.

A week later, you’ve abandoned your exercise routine, and you’re back to your old eating habits.  Well except for that occasional salad for lunch.  The one with the dried cranberries and the sweet vinaigrette dressing, LOADED WITH SUGER!

When we fail to reach our goals, it’s often because we’re too easily satisfied.  We set lofty goals and then we settle for the progress we made.  We decide the goal isn’t worth the effort, and we stop trying. 

Our relationship with Jesus often follows this same pattern.  We dedicate ourselves to spending more time with him and getting to know him.  We start strong, but as time passes, things of the world start to get in the way and we miss all of the “free” time we used to enjoy.  We gradually let the desire to spend more time with him fade, and settle for less than what we could have with him.

Don’t be easily satisfied.  Strive to be the best you can be, physically, mentally, and spiritually.  Press on!

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:12-14 ESV