Running is amazing but like all things you have to be on guard for things that can get in your way or hinder you from being the best runner you can be. Diet, sleep, running mates, shoes, gear, stray animals, weather, training plans, overtraining, undertraining, strangers, or even the running playlist you create. If don’t aren’t watchful for those things, then you could wake up one day and realize you’ve not progressed how you should!
Paul ask the Galatians a rhetorical question to help them understand this same principle. He states:
👟 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying? This persuasion did not come from Him who called you. 👟
You can clearly hear the tone in Paul’s voice. You were doing so well? What or who got in your way? Why have you allowed this hindrance to keep you from doing what you know to be true? It isn’t God who is persuading you to act this way.
He goes on to say just a little bad influence can have a huge effect – just like leaven (or baking powder) in bread.
We often know what we should or should not do but we do not always act on that knowledge of the truth. Paul would ask us the same question – Why? Who is keeping you from obeying?
The real answer is you. You are keeping you from obeying because you’ve allowed someone or something other than God to influence and persuade you. When we allow outside individuals or outside forces to influence more than God’s truth, we aren’t being a wise runner. We are ignoring the obstacles and actually inviting them along for our run.
As we’ve previously examined, God will do all He can to help strengthen us. We’ve got to be sure to not let other influences hinder us along our run. So for the next few days, we are going to look at some hinderances to our running. If we can identify them, then we can root them out of our run and become the best runner we can be. #runningtherace
Adonai's Appeal 