Read Philippians 3: 12-14
A little girl was watching the Olympics on TV and saw the Women's gymnastics competition. She watched as every member of the Olympic team competed at every event. The uneven bars, the balance beam, the vault, the floor exercises and she becomes fascinated and tells her parents she would like to try gymnastics.
They began by taking her to the local community gym where she enrolls in the class for children her age. There she learns to do a summersault and a few other small floor exercises. As her parents watch, they see their daughter begin to excel, to attempt more and more of the floor exercises she had witnessed on the television. They enroll her in an advanced class where she again shines. A coach sees her and approaches her parents about becoming their daughter's coach, sharing with them that she not only has the natural ability but the mental discipline and desire to become an Olympic gymnast.
The parents watch their daughter get better and better every day. At every practice she progresses. When other children are out running around, she is practiciing, getting stronger and stronger. Then one day, after years of practice, she makes the team and soon she is competing in the Olympics and she wins the gold medal.
The desire to be an Olympic champion may have been birthed in 2008, but it was the daily practice, the listening to the instructions of the coach and taking his instructions to heart, the time that she spent in the gym instead of at the mall with her friends, all those day by day decisions that led to the day by day sacrifices that made her a Olympic Champion in 2012.
You may have decided years ago to give your life to Christ, but how have you done on the daily disciplines that can change your life and make you more and more like Christ? Is it time for you to return to the spiritual gym and make the goal of reaching for the heavenly prize your number one priority?
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