Ablaze for God - Day 10 Devotional

“Ablaze with a Passion for Christ”
Submitted by Jeremy Mavis
Key text: Philippians 3:8

I got this idea from a book I’ve been reading…

Christianity is like a waking up one day and finding yourself on an oval race track with the rest of humanity. For some reason you realize you are on the starting line, but no one can figure out what they are supposed to do. So, everyone begins to lay out blankets by the starting line, break out the thermos and coffee, and begin to laugh and play and enjoy themselves.

Somewhere along the way, someone is wandering down the track and crosses the 100-yard line. They discover that this is the point of salvation. This person assumes correctly that everyone else needs to cross this 100-yard line because this is what humanity was made for—salvation. So she heads back to the starting line and begins “preaching” to people that the purpose of life on this track is to run the 100-yard dash! She convinces some, others make it to the 90-yard line, and still others only go so far as the 20-yard line. Some don’t move at all. Pretty soon, the “Christians” that crossed the 100-yard line break out their thermos and coffee and begin to laugh and play and enjoy themselves because they think they have done what they were made to do—they’ve crossed the 100-yard line!

However, one day, someone in the 100-yard line club takes a look at the continuation of the track and begins to wonder to himself what is around the bend further on down the track. So he takes a stroll around the corner. Soon he realizes that there is even a fuller life than just crossing the 100 yard line and a deeper experience that goes with it. As he makes his way around the loop he crosses the starting line again and then the 100-yard line club. As he passes he preaches to them to get moving. Human life is about a continual journey and a constant relationship not merely a 100-yard salvation dash. He emphasizes a marathon path instead of a sprint and relax one.

Realizing your need for Christ in salvation is important, vital actually. However, far too many Christians park themselves in a church and rest easy in their “fire insurance” contract, or their “get-out-of-hell-free-card.” Being a follower of Jesus, one whose heart that is ablaze with passion for Him, requires a commitment towards a journey in Christ-likeness fostered through a continual relationship with Jesus. Such a commitment looks more like a marathon than a dash. I encourage you today to take a gander of the kind of life waiting just around the bend. . .