On Saturday morning at the Cowtown Marathon in downtown Fort Worth I am pressing on toward the goal of anything under a 26:04 5K, my best time to date. I won’t win a prize because there are people in my age bracket who show off by running the Cowtown as if it were a race. But then they’ll be beat by 8th grade Calvary member Molly who’ll run faster than everyone else as well. Pressing on towards the prize requires desire and will power and physical fitness which doesn’t happen overnight. The apostle Paul had more than a little practice pressing on as many pressed in on him for his holding fast to heavenly citizenship. It may be that without opposition it is more difficult for us to keep spiritually fit as minds set on earthly things dull our desire, sap our will power and weaken our resolve. So what are we to do? Stand firm in the Lord, Paul would say, but that doesn’t mean stand still. Someone said to me it was easier for her to give up things in Lent because she thinks about Jesus death more and giving up something you like seems the least you can do. So too our pressing on begins with eyes, not on the prize but on what made the prize possible. "Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of your faith" or so goes another Biblical running text. So if you have taken that first step to be more spiritually fit during Lent don’t let yourself go just because Easter rolls around. The race isn’t over until you cross the finish line, even if Molly gets there first.
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