Going after it

I was blessed this week to be a part of putting on a winter camp for high school students. The theme was "The Pursuit," based on 2 Timothy 2:22-- "Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." I also recently read most of Alex and Brett Harris' book Do Hard Things (which I definitely recommend). The result of these things, and of spending time around a good number of people who are living lives in full pursuit of God, was a hard look at my own life.

What am I doing? Where am I going? In a session with all the girls at the camp, a major point of emphasis was the idea of trajectory. The path you're on leads to where you're going. The person you are becoming is the person you will be. The patterns you develop now are the habits you will either thank God for or have to break later. It starts now-- it has already started-- and it's going to go quicker than you realize.

The result of looking at my life was this: I came to the conclusion that I am doing "fine." And I came to the conclusion that I do not want to be doing "fine." I am not way off the path of righteousness, beating around in the bushes somewhere, entangled in sin and unable to see the light. I praise God for that, because I have spent some time in the bushes and have come out by His faithfulness alone. But if I am on the path, I am barely moving. I am in the Word, but is it really illuminating every step? I am praying, but is the Spirit of God speaking into the deepest parts of my soul? I am in fellowship with other believers, but are we encouraging each other to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and run with perseverance the race marked out for us? Not really.

But I want to.

If Jesus is everything that I say He is, everything I proclaim Him to be through the course of my days, my life needs to be adjusted accordingly. He is the only goal worth pursuing for a lifetime, and I'm a quarter of the way through this lifetime already. It's time to go after it, to stop ambling along and begin to run again.

I hope I am not alone in this. I hope I am not the only person who came out of winter camp with this determination. I am writing in this blog again in order to encourage and challenge the young men and women that came to camp this week, and I am writing in order that you, by reading what I write, can hold me accountable to seeking truth from the Word of God. Let us run the race together, friends, and keep our eyes on the prize that is worth a thousand lifetimes!