No Loitering

I saw a humorous commercial on TV, recently, maybe some of you have seen it, it involves a guy standing on a treadmill, ready to work out.  He looks at the 4 speed options which include; Mosey, Saunter, Stroll and Loiter, and selects saunter, moving rather quickly to loiter.  Obviously saunter was a bit too demanding. The voice-over asks if we really want to be just average, or do you want to gain the most benefits from our exercise by pushing ourselves to do better.

The same question might be posed to all of us who call ourselves Christians.  Are we merely sauntering through our life in Christ, hoping that the less effort we expend will still keep us spiritually fit?  If it doesn’t work that way in physical fitness,  what makes us think it will improve our spiritual well being?  Let’s face it, many folks are hoping to obtain the highest spiritual rewards by doing the bare minimum. The general thinking is, as long as they can be “Average“, by loitering around church once a week, or month, that should keep God happy.

God isn’t looking for permanent loiterers, or even strollers, he wants all of us to get in the race, running at the perfect speed that He selects, depending on the work he needs us to accomplish. Whatever we do in life, school, jobs, parenting, using our talents, we should be striving for excellence, not average. I once heard a person describe average as, “the best of the worst, and the worst of the best.” When you think of it in those terms, it should make you very uncomfortable to be merely an average Christian. Look at the above-average examples we have to follow, ranging from the apostles, and early church, all the way to modern-day men and women of faith.  Paul, many times, referred to his life as running a race.  Does that mean God wants to run us ragged?  Of course not, even Jesus relaxed by sauntering from time to time so he could be ready for the next sprint. Ask God to help you build up, from loiter to running speed. Believe me, it feels amazing when God's endorphins kick in! “And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2.