Always In A Hurry

I have been riding the train to work for over 15 years.  In those 15 years, you get to see the same people who do the same thing day after day.  In one particular case, I have always observed this lady running from the parking lot to catch the elevator.  She has her purse and other bags with her.  She is huffing and puffing while running in her sandals.  When we get up to the top, she hurries down the bridge huffing and puffing, running in sandals with her bags to her side.  She doesn't want to miss her train.  She is always in a hurry.

Seriously though.  If you know what time your train leaves, if you know how far you live and how hard it may be to find a good parking spot, wouldn't you plan a little better?  Wouldn't you get up earlier, have your lunch ready the day before and your clothes ready?  Wouldn't you do everything you can to arrive early enough to get on your train?

But yet, when it comes to living for God we keep hurrying our lives.  We try so much to do so much things that when we come to God's train, we just hop on and our exhausted!  Wouldn't it be best, if we slowed down?  If we took the time to dedicate praying to God.  If we took the time to read God's word.  If we took the time to see how far apart we may be from living a godly life.  We don't always have to be in a hurry.  The Bible says:

Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.  ~ 1 Corinthians 9:24

I enjoy what Paul says in that last sentence "Run in such a way to win the prize."   There is a way to live our lives.  There is a way to demonstrate who we are in Christ.   But let me ask you this, are you running in a way that honors God in your life?  Let me put it this way:  What ways are you not honoring God in your life?  Is it partying?  Is it an obsession with music, tv shows?  Is it an addiction?  Are you living in such a way that the prize of receiving the fullness of Christ in your heart is absent?  Do you think about things that are ungodly?  Are you trying to rationalize your actions?  Are you lazy?  There are many more that I could have written about, but you know that the God who knows what you are doing still loves you and wants to change you.

Let me end with this.  I went in the elevator this morning and I heard this lady shout, "Hold the elevator!"  You know who it was?  It was that same lady.  But this time she walked and didn't run.  She got off the elevator when we arrived at the top and walked across the bridge.  She had arrived early today.  Better prepared and less stressed.  This is just one day.  We see how she will be tomorrow.  How about you?