11/15/14: How to Move Ahead
My favorite sports season is now under way and I love watching my favorite team, the New Orleans Saints, play and win. (No, I don’t live in New Orleans, but as a Christian, shouldn’t the Saints be my favorite team?) Thousands of people spend millions of dollars traveling to games, buying tickets, and purchasing sports apparel, all for the love of the game and a chance to vicariously participate in what will hopefully be a winning season for their team. The goal of every game is to move forward, and I believe we love football so much because it stands as a metaphor for life. We long to get ahead, no matter what obstacles may stand in our way. We all love progress and success; however, the Bible, not the Saints’ playbook, gives us the ultimate answer to the question of how to move forward. Hebrews 10:36 – 11:1 states, “For you have need of endurance (patience), so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: ‘For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (NKJ).
Let’s use the game of football as an analogy. First, know how to get to the line of scrimmage, because we will be unable to move forward until we are there. For the believer, the line of scrimmage is where we receive the ball, which is the promise God has for us. Once in possession of God’s promise, our job is to keep moving forward. If we are impatient, we’ll jump off-sides, misread the play, or ignore the quarterback, and fumble. But if we are patient enough to do the will of God first—obeying the plays the Coach (God) has taught us, listening to the specifics detailed by the Quarterback (Jesus), and trusting the Blocker (the Holy Spirit) leading the way—God’s promise will be handed to us. Then it’s our obligation to the whole team to run with what God has given. Then we can move forward. Don’t “draw back.” If we hesitate, we’re liable to be tackled by the enemy. We must just keep our legs moving and faithfully stretch for the goals we are hoping to reach.
Get in the game and move forward by patiently doing the will of God. Worship God today as the Play-caller in your life.
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©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.
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