Day Eighteen

Gasoline is now as expensive as milk. We pay about as much for a gallon of gas as we do for a gallon of milk.....and the milk's homogenized.....is my gas?

Prices at the fuel pump recently have caused many of us to consider ways that we can conserve gas. We're all having to think of ways to consolidate our errands so we don't have to get out in the car as much. Some are turning off their A/C (don't know how much longer that can last with the summer around the corner), and some have even decided to forgo vacation plans.

I'm trying something that I think is going to help our family reduce our expenditure on gasoline......"coasting"! That's right, coasting! I've discovered that if you time the ascent of a hill just right, you can coast down the other side of the hill without ever having to put your foot on the accelerator and burn that precious gasoline. Yesterday I must have coasted for 2 miles....I think the guy behind me must have thought it was more like 100 miles....he wasn't as excited about me saving gas as I was...go figure! :)

I'm anxious to see how much money we'll save this month, by coasting. Coasting seems to work in the realm of gasoline conservation....but how well does it work in the realm of our walk with Jesus? (you knew a spiritual twist was coming, didn't you!?)

I don't know about you, but in my life, I've proven to myself that I can NOT coast spiritually. I'm a creature of habit, and if I try to coast spiritually, I'm just going to stall. I'll stop making progress spiritually.

What does the Bible say about coasting spiritually? 1 Timothy 4:7 says to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness...train yourself! Philippians 2 tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The Bible doesn't say we can just coast spiritually...it says we should press on toward the goal to win the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14). The Bible talks about perseverance and discipline and obedience from a heart that is 100% sold out to Jesus Christ!

Sometimes I convince myself that I can coast because I've ascended a spiritual hill (a mountaintop experience like a great retreat or an awesome sermon that inspires me - preached by someone other than me of course)....and I convince myself that I can coast afterwards....but all that ends up doing is causing me to lose the steam that the mountaintop experience afforded me, and I soon find myself slowing down spiritually, and I'm not far from sliding backwards back down that hill.

See, the Christian life is like an ascent up a mountain. What happens if you take your foot off the accelerator when you're going uphill? Your progress quickly slows down, right? It doesn't take long for your car to start rolling backwards back down the hill, right? Same thing happens spiritually. If we decide to start coasting spiritually, what actually happens is that we start sliding backwards.....losing the spiritual progress that we've already made. We live in a lost world and we still have a sin nature, and sin is like gravity....it pulls you back down the hill. Bottom line is that you can't coast up a hill....you've got to keep your foot on the accelerator.

Yes, that uses more gasoline, but as long as we're in the Word and nurturing our relationship with God through an active prayer life and practicing regular confession of sins....we're promised a never ending supply of spiritual "fuel" with which to keep our foot on the accelerator.

So, enough with the metaphor. The point is...don't give up. Don't stop moving forward in your walk with Christ. Press on, discipline yourself, work out your salvation! You've been developing the habit of a daily time with God for 18 days now....don't start coasting...keep your foot on the accelerator!

Daily Bible Reading: Acts 14, Joshua 22.
Today is May 1st, and I've put a link on the right for you to go to the Daily Bible Reading Plan. Or you can access it HERE. See ya tomorrow!