Day 40: The Best Things In Life Are: Worth Working Hard For

Day 40: The Best Things In Life Are: Worth Working Hard For

Read: Romans 8:18 - 23

Well, it has been a long time coming. The wondrous spectacle of the Olympic Games in London, England. I am not usually one who pays particular attention to very many sports except when Football season arrives and then my spirit gets all worked up into a frenzy. I mean the last four years the home team has been hugely successful. They practice hard, work hard and play harder through out the season and are winners. At the end of the season, however, they have always come up one or two wins short of playing in the ultimate game - the Super Bowl and achieving victory on the big stage. Our baseball team is finally winning after too many losing seasons: Life is very good!

We are approaching the time for the next Olympic Games in London. In this setting we get to witness to most talented, gifted, and disciplined athletes in the world. They have worked, trained, sacrificed, and given their all to reach their goal. Without a doubt it is the goal of every participant is to win the gold medal. In many cases I start to pay closer attention to a wider range of sports. I watch more and more Olympic Trials and I absolutely marvel at their dedication and work ethic to train for their own events. Not just a little training, but above and beyond training and practice for the chance to be known as Olympic Gold Medalist - The very best in their chosen sport. They push themselves harder and harder, far beyond their previous endurance levels to win.

I certainly cannot personally speak to the kind of disciplined training of these athletes. They work extraordinarily hard and I guess suffer a great deal to achieve their hopes and desires on the athletic stage. They sacrifice much in the way of time devoted to working out in the gym, swimming at the pool. I can reasonably guess that gymnasts fall hard more than a few times off of balance beams, uneven parallel bars, vaults and so on before they achieve their level of desired success. I cringe thinking about the separated shoulders, broken bones, torn knees, bodily sprains and strains beyond counting. The sacrifice of their time traveling near and far to practice fields, for the competitions in their sports. Sacrifices their families make to support their efforts.

For them, the best things in life are always worth working hard for. We, as human beings, Christians or non Christians, even if we are not trying to be the ultimate athlete know that we have to work hard to achieve success, to sacrifice for the things we love and value the most. Work hard to get married, raise children, success in our education, careers to gain a truly meaningful and prosperous retirement. As Christians we strive to work hard to spread the Love of God, to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For me as a Christian I know that I can never work hard enough to earn God's favor. I know it is already there. By the grace of God I already know it is mine and always will be mine. The best things in my life, while awaiting my eternal life in Jesus Christ, is to work hard for you and sacrifice my time to come alongside of you that you might learn to live and love with with a God vision of your own eternity in your hearts, being encouraged, transformed, inspired as I have been. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Pray with me: Creator God, Blessed Redeemer, open our eyes that we may see, open our ears that we may hear, open our mouths that we may speak. Awaken our hearts for the things of Your kingdom. Let our hands and feet used to to work in the growth of Your great kingdom. Set our eyes on our eternity that with boldness and confidence: We can go anywhere, because Jesus came to us. We can be sent to our neighbors because Jesus always goes before us. We can stand on our own two feet, stand and face the journey towards the eternity that waits for us, because Jesus is Lord & Savior. We can do all things in Christ who gives us the strength to live.

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Blessed be Your Name

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This song means a lot to me personally. I was thinking about the Bible verse in Psalm 50:23, which says; "He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me...