Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. Heb 12:1-4 NLT

 
Life isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. And if there’s one thing I know about running long distances, it’s that you don’t need anything weighing you down. It’s sometimes hard enough going the distance without lugging extra weight along. If you’ve noticed your race has become difficult or if you’ve lost some of your energy and enthusiasm; it’s probably time to evaluate if you’re carrying around some unnecessary weight. Check to see if you’ve got the extra weight of…
 
 

- Wrong Priorities (Putting effort on the wrong things)

Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecies spoken to you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you. Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself…

1 Tim 4:14-16 NLT

You know the old adage, “The squeaky hinge gets greased.” It’s true. When you focus most of your energy, strength and attention on the things screaming the loudest, you’ll find yourself constantly reacting, rather than acting on purpose, on the things that Christ has commissioned you. You find yourself running around like crazy trying to put out fires, and unless you are a fireman, and enjoy trauma and drama, after a while ministry is no fun at all. And ministry is meant to be enjoyable. So stop and ask yourself, “Am I doing this because people are nagging me, or am I doing this to fulfill God’s plan and purpose for my life?” Live for God’s approval, not others. Serve for an audience of One. Give complete attention to the things that He has asked you to do!

- Wrong Purpose (Failing to examine your motivation.)

There are a lot of wrong purposes, very few right ones. One of the wrong purposes is to be seen. Jesus said, “When you do good deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you won’t get a reward from your Father in heaven”. Matt. 6:1 Not that we’re necessarily “show offs.” Sometimes it’s just the opposite. We’re insecure, and we just want people to know we have value. We serve so we’ll be accepted or that someone (especially someone in leadership) will like us, value us, and believe in us. We want to be admired. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but neither is it good. Here’s why. If you’re not noticed, valued or appreciated, then you’re hurt. How many times have you felt bad because someone didn’t notice, or appreciate something you did? Come on. Be honest. When you’re serving God’s purpose only, what others say or think matters not at all.

Sometimes people serve to achieve their personal goals, to make connections, or get experience. They’re in it for THEIR CALLING…not God’s. And sometimes people serve as a sort of a bargaining chip with God. “God, I’ll serve, then You’ll take care of me.” It becomes a way people try to manipulate God. Again, it’s not a conscious effort to manipulate God. But if you look closely at their purpose, you’ll find it there, hidden among the religious terminology.

I think we all serve with the wrong motivation sometimes. Motivation is such a subtle thing, it’s hard to recognize. Oh, it’s easy to see it in someone else, but hard to see it within yourself. So how do you know if you’re serving with the wrong motivation? Stop and ask God to illuminate your heart. Ask Him to help you see whether your motivations are pure or not. If you’re not being motivated out of a heart of gratitude and love for God, then your motivation is wrong. When you lose your sense of gratefulness, your service will become a weight in your life. It becomes something you “hafta do.” It’s definitely not something in which you delight.

- Wrong Project (Taking too much upon yourself.)

I don’t want for you to be so overloaded with the responsibilities of family, career and ministry that you lose all sense of gratefulness. Neither does God. God wants you to fulfill His purpose for your life with a sense of wonder and gratitude. I know that the sense of wonder won’t always be there. Sometimes ministry is just plain hard work. There’s nothing “wonderful” about it. But if you’d stop and think about it for a moment; stop and think about it in the light of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, and your sense of wonder and gratefulness will be renewed. You’ll be thankful that God values you enough to use you. Missions is hard. Traveling is hard. Cross-cultural ministry is hard. But there are times when I stand on the mission field and I think, “Oh, God, you are so good to allow me the wondrous opportunity to touch people’s lives.” That is the attitude in which God wants you to serve. Find out what God wants you to do and DO IT gratefully!

I want you to look inside your heart and see if you’ve had some wrong priorities, purposes or projects going on in your life. Check to see if you are burdened and heavy laden.  God wants to remove the weights from your life tonight; He wants to comfort you in His embrace. God wants to remove the excess baggage so you can run this race with patience. He wants to get rid of the junk so you can live a victorious, hope filled, thankful life. He wants you to renew your purpose, and change your priorities so that you can pursue all He has set aside for you to do.

Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Renew your strength by waiting upon the Lord. Allow Him to examine your heart and life. Repent of those things that have weighed you down. Rejoice in all that God has done, and is going to do in you and through you. Determine today that you are going to live a life of purpose and passion with a thankful heart.

Posted under Heart to Heart