I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post that my cellphone is really judge-y. Believe it or not, the treadmill is every bit as judge-y!
I step onto the treadmill and am immediately faced with hundreds of different video workout options … each featuring an incredibly buff, athletic, perfectly in-shape person … who doesn’t look anything at all like I look. I don’t even begin to have an ounce of the energy and stamina they have.
The athletic workout trainers are walking/running in incredible locations! … for example, around the rim of some stunning lake in the far southern Patagonia region of South America … it is absolutely breathtaking! From the get-go, the trainer starts out with a quick pace, increasing ever more as she begins to head up an incline. I can’t do that! I can’t even keep up with the pace … let alone do the incline.
I instantly feel “not good enough.”
I’m not buff or athletic or perfectly in-shape like everyone I see on the screen. I can’t walk as fast as they walk. I can’t do the inclines like they can. I’m “not good enough.”
So I give up on the flashy video training programs and I set the treadmill for a speed of 2 … I can do that. The treadmill screen responds by displaying a basic drawing of a track loop … and advancing along the track loop as I walk, the color blue is filling in the space.
The screen is keeping record of how fast I am walking … how far I am walking … how many loops I’ve made … how fast I am making it around each loop … how much time has elapsed in my “workout session”, etc.
I feel “not good enough.” I’m only going speed 2. I only made it around the loop 3 times … and not only that, I stopped before completing a full loop! I’m “good enough.”
Do you ever feel “not good enough”?
The above example might seem like a silly one, because it really doesn’t matter. If I were to go for a walk around my neighborhood, I would not have data constantly displayed in front of me of how “good” (or “not good”) I was doing.
Walking around my neighborhood, my attention is drawn to puffy clouds floating across the sky … to the brilliant orange of the sky as the sun sets … to the sound of a woodpecker in the trees somewhere nearby … to the cold early-Spring breeze blowing in my face.
Taking a walk around my neighborhood always leaves me feeling revitalized and recharged … because of what my attention is focused on!
When it comes to our walk of faith with Jesus Christ, it’s easy to feel like we aren’t “good enough.” We see people who seem super spiritual, who have been Christians for a long time, who have had lots of training. We instantly feel “not good enough” … just like I felt watching the athletic, perfectly in-shape trainers.
We read our Bible, we pray, we seek to develop a daily time of drawing closer to God. But it doesn’t look the same way as how everyone else is drawing closer to God. We feel “not good enough.”
We give what we have to serve God, but we feel like what we are doing to serve God isn’t “as good” as all the many other ways everyone else is serving God. We feel “not good enough” … just like I felt when all I could walk was speed 2 on the treadmill.
Just like I got discouraged by having data displayed in front of me of my performance as I walked on the treadmill, so also we too will be discouraged if our attention is constantly focused on our “performance” as we walk with Jesus.
As we walk with Jesus, let it be more like a walk outside in nature. Let our gaze be captivated by all the amazing things God is doing in our life! Let our attention be focused on all the countless blessings God pours out each day!
Our daily walk with Jesus should leave us feeling revitalized and recharged … because our attention has been so focused on Him! … and His goodness!
It doesn’t matter how fast our walk with Jesus is … it can be a speed 2 … no one is keeping records or keeping score. God is not displaying data in front of our face, and showing us comparisons each day of how well our “performance” today was compared to yesterday’s “performance.”
If all you can walk is speed 2 … then that is good enough! To “run hard after God” simply means to give it everything you’ve got … to give your very best. If speed 2 is all you’ve got … then that’s good enough!
Celebrate speed 2 … and faithfully walk every day with Jesus!
