Olympians...I think not!

Running the race…we’re back to this. Ok, let’s face it. None of us are Olympic athletes. So we don’t even know what goes into the training it takes to be one. But what we do have sense of is what it takes to be a Christian. And really, we don’t have time to train to be a Christian. We just need to be one.
Think about it. What if you took a time-out to train? You don’t read your Bible, you don’t pray, you don’t share God’s word with anyone. You just watch your Hooked-on-phonics, read your “How to Pray” manual and you practice speeches in front of your mirror. And after you do this training regimen for about a month, you’re ready to be a Christian!! There’s no time for this. 2 Peter 1:5-9 says, “So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.” So basically just BE A CHRISTIAN. I say that like it’s simple. We all know that’s not true.
That’s why it is important to read God’s word and spend time with Him. God is the best trainer in the Game of Life. He will speak to you if you will only just open your heart. I know He speaks to mine. I sat down today to work on my lesson. I did not do my Bible study daily this week. And I can honestly say that I suffered because of it. But our God is good and He spoke to me. Obviously not because of what I had done but because He is kind and never leaves me. Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” It will not be what we have done that gets us into Heaven, it is by God’s grace that we will enter. But we must have FAITH!
I think having FAITH should be our new goal this week. Whenever we get down on ourselves and think negative thoughts about our eating habits, Bible study neglect, lack of exercise or whatever, allow FAITH to step in. God is good and He gave us Jesus to bring us home. Let’s put our FAITH in Him and overcome all those things that bring us down.
1 Peter 1:3-12 reads, “What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and whole.
I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.
You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation.
The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah's Spirit let them in on some of it—that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves—through the Holy Spirit—the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!

Let us pray.
Father, thank you for this place
Where we gather by Your grace;
Under flags of nations built
As Your holy purpose willed.

Thank you for the chance to show
Gratitude for skill bestowed
To these men and women here,
Bodies filled with holy fear.

Thank you for the joy of games;
May we play them in Your name.
Make us humble, win or lose;
Let our spirits not be bruised.

Thank you, Lord, for victory's gain;
Thank you, too, for losing's pain.
Give us hearts that capture grace
At the end of every race.

Thank you for the sweat and tears,
For the struggles through the years;
For the striving and the strain,
For the time to work and train.

Father, thank you for this day,
Hear us now, to You we pray;
May we glorify Your name
As we shout, "On with the Games!"