Daily devotional, 26 March 2024 Final Push

"Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." Hebrews 12:3-4

The final moments of a race will always be crucial. It is when we want to give up out of exhaustion. It is when we feel the most pressure to get to the finish line ahead of others. It is the time when our bodies feel tiredness, hunger, thirst, and the need to rest.

As followers of Jesus, we are also running a race of faith. We put all our energy into improving our character, so that we can be more Christ-like and further our sanctification process. But like any race, we need training, endurance, and the right mindset so that we can finish the course.

In his letter to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul used the analogy of a race to explain His faith journey. There he encouraged the early Christians to remain focused on the Prize of spending eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we can remain faithful to Him in the face of difficulties, challenges, and persecution:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." 
Hebrews 12:1-2

In real life though, we usually catch ourselves giving up at the final stretch because we lack the tenacity to keep walking in the ways of the Lord. For instance, when we vow not to lose patience and not yell at our children, we summon all our energy to remain patient with them the whole day, only to lose it after dinner when they refuse to brush their teeth right away.

Like the time you promised yourself to limit eating red meat, and sleep early. You made it to Friday, but not until that Saturday night impromptu dine out with friends when you had meat and drinks too many than we would care to admit.

Or that time when you said you will no longer engage in gossiping, and you indeed had been successful for almost two whole weeks already.  On the 15th day though you heard from a former neighbor who shared a juicy story about one of your childhood friends, and again you are back at gossiping about someone who cannot even defend herself.

It is at these moments that we are to call in God for help. We can pray for His grace that we can get out of the mud and try again. Try again to train ourselves to emulate His character and grow in Christlikeness. To rise above our failure to improve.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." 
Philippians 1:6

And once we can finally move on and try again, we can ask for the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance. We can for the Holy Spirit to work in us so that when our flesh is too weak to follow our will to sanctify ourselves, we could get that extra push of grace to resist the temptation that will keep us from becoming the better and holier versions of ourselves.

"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." 
1 Peter 1:3-4

We all know our weaknesses. We are all a work in progress. And whenever we try our best to be more like Jesus, we will encounter hurdles. But we can get past all those hurdles if we train ourselves to be more like Him, emulate His character by abiding in Him, walking in His ways, and loving Him with all our might and strength.

"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." 
James 3:17-18

Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Hebrews 12:1-17 to dig deeper on today’s topic.

Reflection Question: Where do you get the strength to train yourself in Christlikeness? Do you rely on your own willpower? or do you tap into the Lord’s grace and mercy?

Conversation with the Lord: Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for empowering us to be the best, and most Christlike versions of ourselves. I truly want to change for the better my Lord, so please give me the willpower to endure the difficulties that stand before me and the best version of myself. Amen.