by Richelle Hecker

Keep Your Eye on the Prize.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link. 

Look at this picture carefully and you will see a rock climber in the lower center. He looks so tiny against that wall of rock. What is the motivation for climbing up such a steep surface? Was he attempting to overcome his own fears, prove he had the strength to make it, or just excited to see the view from up there?

I have done a small amount of rock climbing. I love that feeling of looking up and wondering if I will make it, of my muscles engaging and proving my strength, and the exhilaration of making it to the top. As long as I keep my eye on the goal of where I am going, there is no fear of where I am.

I have no idea if he ever made it to the top, but I suspect he did. This man is well equipped for his adventure. He has the gear he needs to make it to the top. All he needs to do is look up.

Rock climbing represents a lot of what life is like to me. So much of life is a battle where we prove our strength, gain new strength, overcome fears, and achieve incredible victories. At the same time, when we’ve made it to the top we often have to learn how to let go of the things we’ve trusted to get there and rappel back down for a new beginning. God rarely leaves us comfortable in one place. In order to navigate life, it helps to keep our eye on the ultimate goal.

 ^“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:12-14 New International Version

God has equipped you with everything you need. Keep your eye on the prize and press forward. You’ll make it.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO