Another Run Today

In the past the only thing that has truly motivated me to run is the Peachtree Road Race.  In March I send off my registration (last year I was able to register online) and the registration for the race was alone enough motivation to get me out running.  This year, July 4th falls on Sunday so I didn’t register for the race.  It’s not that I have a huge objection to running a race on a Sunday, but it has more to do with I’m in the full-time ministry and my job responsibilities require me to be here on campus on Sunday mornings.  So I didn’t register this year, thus I’ve had a harder time finding the motivation to run in general.

This morning I brought an extra pair of clothes and my running shoes and headed out for a run during my lunch break.  Wow, was that hard!  About 2 miles in the run I was completely out of breath, overheating and just plain tired.  I would love to blame the heat, the hills, or some other force that was making my run so difficult.  In the end, I’m just out of shape. 

There are a list of many other things in my life that I know I need to do but never get around to doing.  There are things that need cleaning, repairing, moving, plugging, organizing, and many other things to numerous to list!  There’s always a list of things that need to be done.  Some of the excuses I make is that I don’t have time.  But if I were to be honest, that’s only part of the problem.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I have tons of free time just to waste, because I don’t.  But just like running, there are things I know I need to do but never get around to doing it and it’s all because I lack the motivation to do it.

One of the answers to my lack of motivation can be found in accountability.  First and foremost I am accountable to God for my actions. Romans 14:12 says, “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”  This is personal accountability.  But God has also given me other brothers and sisters in Christ to help me along the way too.   The writer of Hebrews gives us some insight.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:23-25

A couple of things stand out in the verse to me.  One is that first and foremost our hope is in Jesus and he is faithful.  Knowing that Jesus Christ is on our side and He will be faithful in everything He was promised is the greatest motivation in our Christian walk.  But we are not just left with that.  Hebrews tells us that we are to encourage/motivate one another and part of that is meeting together.  Not meeting together just to have fun, or to accomplish an act of service.   We meet together to renew our hope, to encourage one another to live out a live of love and good deeds, and to remember our time is short.  I found this accountability at its greatest with my small group who happen to be my closest friends.

The Peachtree Road race has 55,000 runners all going the same direction for the same finish line.  When running the Peachtree I rarely stop to walk.  This is not because my training has been great but because the fact that I have 55,000 people surrounding me that haven’t given up either.  There’s power in numbers when it comes to encouragement.  We need that same encouragement and motivation when it comes to following Christ.  We need to look to our left and right to realize that we can’t stop.  We can’t slow down.  We need to press on because we are not alone.

Did Jesus ever get sick?

So I have another head cold.  Maybe it’s a sinus infection.  I’m really not sure which it is, but either way my head is full of snot!  I have the typical symptoms: scratchy throat, runny nose, headaches, and small cough.  I’ve had this cold/infection on and off for the last 3 weeks.  About 2 weeks ago I went to the doctor and was prescribed Claritin, nasal mist and a round of antibiotics.  The symptoms seemed to go away for a couple of days but yesterday and today everything is back in full force.

Thinking about being sick made me think about this question, did Jesus ever get sick?  Did he ever have a cold, the flu, a sinus infection, food poisoning, etc.?  Hebrews 4:15 (NASB) says,

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” 

When Jesus entered the human realm he entered into a human body which can be plagued by injury, sickness, and temptation.  He entered a human body full of weaknesses.  The same weaknesses that you and I face on a daily basis including but not limited to sickness.  Jesus chooses to enter the human world so he would encounter sickness in the same way you and I get sick.  Being sick is only a footnote in God’s massive plan of salvation but nevertheless it shows the grace, humility and servant hood of Jesus Christ.

So how did Jesus handle his sickness?  Today with modern medicine we have Nyquil, Dayquil, Claritin, Tylenol, Advil, antihistamines, decongestants, and antibiotics.  All of these medicines lessen the effects and sometimes shorten the duration of infections.  Jesus is the 1st Century did not have access to these modern remedies.  I’m sure there were ancient remedies that might have alleviated Jesus, but I’m sure it’s nothing compared to modern medicine.  That being said, if and when Jesus did get a cold, he had it worse that I have it right now!  Tylenol didn’t take the edge off the headache.  He didn’t have the soft, lotion laced Kleenex to blow his nose.  He must have had it rough.  On top of all of that he handled sickness without sin.  Something as simple as a common cold makes me more irritable, have less patience, and just a bore to be around.  In those times of weakness, Jesus pressed on.  He didn’t stop loving.  He didn’t stop teaching/preaching.  Even though he was weak, he did not sin in His human weakness.  He continued on his mission to reconcile the world back to God. 

For us today the message is the same.  Satan and the world are going to do everything in their power to stop us from remaining in Christ and doing the will of the father.  We must follow Jesus and regardless of our weakness (sickness and all) do all things to glorify our Savior.  

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.   Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14 (NASB)