Why Continue?

In today's episode I ask the question why continue? I also reflect on Philippians and how entertainment is affecting our race. 

Transcript

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Hi guys, welcome back to another episode of Running Our Race and today I titled it Why Continue? Now I mean think about continuing our race, uh referring to the Bible. I've always thought just continue, keep going. To a certain extent, there's a lot of verses that refer to this. But as I was preparing for this episode, I prepared last week and I haven't had a chance to record it until today, but I found myself looking at my my wallpaper, and I guess I was just kinda like, whoa, that I've had something about persevering and I've never like I guess I never fully grasped it. Like I always knew that it was there, my wallpaper, and to a certain extent, I guess we always know that we have the Bible there, but how many times we actually use it? And so I'm just gonna show y'all. It is in Spanish, so So it does say sigue perseverando, no te desenfocus. I feel like it's a very straightforward, like hey, don't um uh keep persevering. Um don't get I guess the direct translation would be unfocused. Later that day I actually found myself reading uh Philippians 3 12 to 21. I believe before in another episode I had touched up until from 12 to about 14. But I wanted to read all the way to 21 this time, and I may stop in certain parts and just kinda talk about it, but not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straight forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in intimating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us, for many of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with mindset on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. That was a long part, but like I said, I kind of want to go through some parts. So, just off the jump, um, you know, he admits he's not perfect, he hasn't obtained certain things right, but he presses on. And I feel like that was, you know, pretty pretty important, you know. Like, okay, we're supposed to press on, we're supposed to persevere. Now, this is where I answer the why continue, right? Because Christ Jesus has made me his own. When we know our value in Christ, we have a tendency to keep going regardless of our situations. Um, when we forget our value, or when we listen to, you know, lies of the enemy, or what people people's opinions more than what God says, we have a tendency to sway or stop persevering. Now, with that being said, um the next part was what really just like hit me. And it was, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And it finishes off a little bit with saying, Let us those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Now, there's a few things that I got from this, and one of them one of the main things is just basically like, Okay, forget what lies behind. And I think I've kind of mentioned this in other episodes, right? I'm going through a situation, and a lot of me hasn't been looking behind. And so when I came up with this episode, the title, I was kind of talking to myself, you know, I was like, why continue? One, why continue with this podcast, why continue with, you know, certain things? And because a a part of me wants to give up on a lot of things right now. And I remember just coming across this Bible verse, and I just had a new sense of urgency of continuing to persevere despite what the situation looked like and it just hit me because it was like those of us who are mature think this way. So it's like every time that we think that we can't persevere or that we we have to keep looking behind, we're not being mature. And it was like kind of like a slab in the face, right? Because it was like, man, that's crazy. Like people who look behind are not mature in their way of thinking. And then it ends off with that part that says, and if any of you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Now I know a lot of us we have different, I guess we could say convictions, and a lot of people base themselves off of those convictions, and they're like, Well, you know what? God never convicted me of that, and you know what, that's perfectly fine, but we also have to draw the line of where God's word says don't do this, and where it says everything is permissible, but that doesn't mean you should do it, right? I know I'm kind of paraphrasing, but what I really take from that Bible verse, the one about not being every everything's permissible, but not everything like te conviene, not it's not good for you, you know? And so what I take from that is that we really have to be really careful, especially in these end times or in these times where we really don't know what tomorrow holds. What we allow to consume, uh, and that may be entertainment. I know right now the World Cup is going on. And you know what? I'm Mexican, I'm going for Mexico, but I'm not letting it consume me. I'm not, you know, like actively looking at the game or you know, like honestly, a part of me has wanted to, you know, just because like, oh, it's a hype right now, everyone's doing it. But I feel like I've had this conviction, me personally, right? And it's like we waste so much time on entertainment that we've forgotten or pushed God to the side. And I know that, you know, different people they make time for God, or they they know what they're doing, you know, they know how to manage their time well and everything. But unfortunately, in this day and age, we're so much entertainment, we're bombarded with so much of it. And doom scrolling is a thing, and it even goes on to say, you know, like some of those things, God is their belly, their glory is in shame, with mindset on earthly things. We really have to set our mind on where our citizenship is. So, why continue? Keep persevering, keep your eyes focused on God, and trust, everything's gonna turn out the way it's supposed to. That's it for today's episode. I pray that it helps you continue to persevere, and I pray that it helps you uh acknowledge the things that you need to acknowledge so that you can actually keep continuing persevering and not get unfocused or um distracted with other things of this world. Uh make sure to like, comment, and subscribe, and I'll catch y'all in the next one.