Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser
After salvation, God sets us on a race of life. So, when we get saved He say’s, “this is the direction I want you to live your life”. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10). This should be your goal, to walk in the good works that God has set for you. Be in the race set for you.
“1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:1-2).
In this race of life, we have encouragers. Being in the race set for us is fulfilling the purpose for which God created us. The Bible is saying there are encouragers in this race, some pioneers have come and with their good works following them. There is a purpose for which God created every one of us and until a person accomplishes that, or is in the process of doing so, he or she will never be living an abundant life. He or she will never be living a life worth living. He or she will never be living a fulfilled life.
You may have all the money you want, or all the relationships you want, but you wouldn’t be living the purposeful life that God gave you as a believer if you are not in the race of life set before you. That is, if you are not living in the will of God, or seeking to obey Him, you will never find fulfilment. If you don’t walk in the good works that God prepared before the foundation of this earth, you will never be satisfied in life. You will never be able to fill that void with anything in life than walking in the will of God. We need to walk in the good works that God prepared for us and not to walk away from them. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
Now the race of life becomes more personal when we read Hebrews 12:2. “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”. It’s not a matter of speed but a matter of being able to last. It’s about being able to run the whole length. In our Christian lives, we also have those things that impede and hinder our walk. Anything that hinders our keeping the pace of God is a distraction. It must be laid aside and you need to turn away from it.
We are to lay aside those things that hinder and distract us in our Christian walk. As we are living in the will of God, anything that hinders, or gets our attention, and leads us away from the will of God must be dealt with. That can be a habit in our lives. Some sport or even watching TV. Anything which is being over emphasised in our lives could be a distraction. That means, something we give special importance or value to. It may even be doubt or fear, action, attitude, or relationship.
Anything that hinders, impede, slows us down, or gets us out of the will of God may have to be removed. We have to look in our own lives and say, ‘what is it in my lifestyle that hinders me or keeps me away from focusing on my God given goal, following His will or allowing Him to work His way in my life’. We all have to examine ourselves and lay aside the sin that ensnares us. Sometimes, it’s not easy to identify. We may have some habits in our lives that have been there for years and we may think, that’s just the way I am, but it may be retarding your spiritual walk.
Sometimes it could be just a little doubt that lingers on in our lives. We may think, does God even care or have a plan for my life? We sometimes make decisions and then ask God to bless us. But do we ask the mind of God before we make those decisions?
" Lay aside those things that impede and hinder your progress in walking in the will, timing, and pace of God. "
There are many areas of life that can hinder our race and walk with the Lord. So, we must first examine ourselves to see what’s hindering us. Secondly, we must decide to deal with it and thank the Lord for showing this to us. It may not even be deliberate or a known willful sin. But we must acknowledge that it’s hindering our walk and make a conscious effort to lay it aside. You may be holding on something that’s keeping you from the good works that you are supposed to walk in. Whatever it may be, put it aside, walk away from it, turn away from it and make it right between you and God. That’s easily said than done, but you must depend on the Holy Spirit to help you deal with it.
Lay aside those things that impede and hinder your progress in walking in the will, timing, and pace of God. Anything that gets your attention and divert your course is a hindrance. ‘The sin that so easily entangles us’. What does the Bible mean by that? It may be a weakness such as doubt, finances, lust or whatever it might be. Something you keep struggling with, something we know to be deliberate willful choices of disobedience to God. We fall into this sin most frequently or most easily.
We must deal with those things if we want to walk in the good works God prepared for us because they are the things that let us fall away from the track. They are the things that keep us away instead of keeping our eyes on the goal set before us. They are strongholds that need self-discipline to deal with. Nothing in this life is so valuable that we can justify saying no to God. If the Lord has identified something that has become a hindrance to walking in His will, then deal with it and renew your fellowship with the Lord.
The worse thing is to distance yourself from the plan of God for your life. When that happens, your security and everything round you begins to unravel. Nothing will be right because God is our guide, protection, peace, and provision. Athletes or runners must keep practising and be self-disciplined to win the race. Being self-disciplined is extremely important and the same thing is needed in the Christian life. It requires strong self-discipline on our part to be kept in the race of life.
When you receive the Lord Jesus as your personal saviour, He lives His life through you, but that doesn’t mean you don’t bring every area of your life under discipline, or under the will, plan, and purposes of God. We must lay these things aside but sometimes it’s not that easy to do. We must rely on God and trust in Him. That’s why you must make Bible studies a priority. Take time to study some of the characters in the scriptures. What does Bible say about them? How did God work in the lives of the people in the scriptures? How did God give them victory? What did the characters do to attract the hand of God in their lives?
We have the ultimate example in the person of Jesus Christ. Notice Hebrews 12: 2; “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”. Running with endurance means there will be hardships, trials, difficulties, adversity and suffering. But having endurance means you must be steadfast, strong and willing to stand against all kinds of opposition and all the things that will hinder you in your Christian walk. So, the Bible says let’s run with endurance.
That means moving in the direction God is leading us no matter what we face. We are not going to quit because of mountains of obstacles in our way, thinking, how will I be able to climb this? Or when the road seems to be deserted and empty, thinking, why do I have to walk through this. You see, when it becomes so dark that we don’t see our way clear, the person who is weak will say “forget It, I give up, I quit”. This is why we sometimes find people who used to come to church and serve the Lord but no longer do, and when you ask them, ‘what happened’, And they say something wasn’t working for me. But the Christian life works. Rather, we are the ones who don’t want to work. We are the ones who want to quit. Surely, there will be difficulties ahead, but we don’t have to give up and quit. There is more than enough light to keep us going. Just trust and obey.
