Is It What You Have or What You've Earned?

"I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in." Henry David Thoreau

It isn’t the things that you get handed to you that determine who you are. It is the things that you work for, the things that you struggle to get, that help define the person that you are.

Why is that? Does just being given something allow you to really own it? Simple things like being given a piece of gum. Yeah…it doesn’t take much to take ownership of a piece of gum does it? But let’s look a little further. Does being given a bike make you cyclist? Not really…not until you begin to ride it and put in the miles in the saddle. When you can get on the bike and know how it responds, know how it handles, know that you can push those pedals and it will carry you for as long as you can continue to push it.

What about running shoes or a wetsuit? Does being given either of those make you a runner or a swimmer? Not at all…not until you begin to use them. Until then it is almost as though they own you. Receive a pair of running shoes and set them by your back door. Every time you walk by them it will be as though they are telling you what to do until you take ownership of them. I never feel guilt in looking at my running shoes…as though they are telling me that I need to go out and run…because I have taken ownership of them. I know my schedule…I know when I need to run and when I need to rest and I have no guilt in my rest times because I have put in my miles.

Our salvation is a gift…God gives it to us freely…but simply accepting the gift isn’t enough. Oh…it is initially. Just like when you get a pair of running shoes. You may have never run a mile in your life…but as long as you head out the door that first day and run your first 100-feet you are a runner. The next day may be 200-feet. And then eventually you run your first mile…it isn’t until you decide to stop running that you stop being a runner.

When you accept God’s gift of salvation you become a Christian. But simply accepting and doing nothing more will not allow you to hold onto that gift. And some would say that you never really accepted it if you don’t do something more. Just like the gift of the running shoes. You may accept them but unless you actually use them, you have to ask yourself if you truly accepted ownership of them. I would say not. You may as well give them away to a runner because at least then you will not experience the guilt of seeing that unused gift sitting at your back door. The unused gift that you never took ownership of.

I believe that the world is full of Christians who have yet to take ownership of their gift of salvation. Oh…they accepted the gift but they haven’t really accepted ownership of it. They may have gotten up that next morning and put in their first 100-ft. run…but somewhere along the line they decided that it was too hard. They didn’t like the pain, the shortness of breath, the side-ache…all of those little pains that you experience when you are just getting started. And so they give up. They quit trying and decide that because this gift was free they really don’t need to do anything. But how untrue?

What I’ve experienced as both a Christian and as a recreational athlete is that the moment you stop experiencing a bit of discomfort is the same moment you stop growing and it is usually the same moment that you give up ownership of your gift.

I experienced a lot of discomfort when I first started running…A LOT!! And then it got easier. But then I experienced A LOT of discomfort when I trained for my first marathon…and EVEN MORE when I trained for my first triathlon and my first Ironman. It doesn’t stop…not if you want to keep growing and hold onto the ownership of that gift.

I continue to experience a certain amount of discomfort as I embrace the Word of God. As I continue to delve into the teachings and the application that God has for my life today. I want to become ALL that I can and I want to have the LARGEST impact on this world with my life that I can. And I know that isn’t going to happen just living a quite little life where I walk by that gift that God has given me…but make the decision to just leave it sitting there.

Take ownership of the gifts you’ve been given…today. Until you do…they may be owning you.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 – “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

Have a blessed day,

RodZ

© 2008 – Rodney Zimmerman – All rights reserved