Part One
Part Two
Part Three
These posts were regarding the things that motivate me to run. Essentially the motivating factors I talked about were:
- Enjoyment - it is something I really enjoy doing (but it is more enjoyable in the daylight when it is warm and sunny, rather than in the winter when it's dark, cold and wet).
- Targets - if I enter a race then I need to train to make sure I go either as fast as possible (say for a 5K) or simply am able to complete the course (in the case of a marathon).
- Accountability - if I share my training schedule or my short term goals and targets with others, then I'm more likely to achieve them.
- Give yourself no choice - in part 3 I said that the best way to complete a long run is to make sure that the half way point is a long way from home - this way the option of cutting the run short is not really there.
One of the things about motivation is that it will be different for everybody. I am very competitive and therefore the thought of just entering a race and getting round doesn't really cross my mind. Even if it was my intention at the start, as soon as the race starts I want to set a new personal best.
But how does all this relate to my life as a Christian? Discipleship and discipline go hand in hand and the Apostle Paul used illustrations from athletics to draw conclusions about the Christian life (e.g. 1 Corinthians 9:25-27).
Enjoyment
There will be times when it is easy to be disciplined in the Christian life - to attend church, to pray, to read your Bible, to talk to people about your faith. But those times won't last forever. There will also be times when it is 'cold and dark and wet and 4.30am'. What we need to remember is that these times are not a sign that God loves us any less. Rather they are a natural part of our spiritual discipleship.
Of course our ultimate motivation is love for God. But there will be times when we need a little help to keep us on the right track.
Targets and Accountability
All too often we see our Christian life as a thing that is between God and us - as an individual. And yet something is always a lot harder when we're trying to do it on our own. Having someone who turns up at your door ready to go for a 5 mile run with you, or having someone who will ask you how many miles you ran in the last week, are both incentives to keep training.
Likewise having someone to pray with regularly; or agreeing to follow a particular Bible reading programme - and share that goal with someone who will ask you how you're doing and what you're learning; or meeting with a house group every week - these are all ways that will make the hard task of discipleship that bit easier.
Stepping out in Faith
Being 7 miles from home half way through a 14 mile run, requires that you run 14 miles. If you just do 14 one mile loops around your house there is always the option to cut the session short when you start to get tired.
Sometimes we are aware what it is that God is asking us to do - we're just reluctant / nervous / scared about doing it. And so instead we look for mini-steps, so that there is always the option of bailing if things don't turn out as expected. Instead we should trust God and take the risk. When we're '7 miles from home' we don't have any choice - we have to trust in God.
As I said earlier, we're all different. What motivates you?
