Love your shoes

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect"  1 Peter 3:15

Compliment a runner on his/her shoes and you will most likely hear the story of why or why not they are awesome.  You might even hear about how wearing them was the cause for their latest PR or cured them of shin splints. Seriously, runners love their shoes.  If they're road worthy, we are always ready to recommend them to a stranger.   And yet they won't last or really do anything more than help us run a race.  I've listened to so many runners give credit to, and recommend with passion, some material thing (like shoes, gels, supplements) for a great finishing time. But respectfully suggest to them that Jesus is the real reason and the conversation gets quiet.  It seems people are so willing to acknowledge something other than Christ as the reason behind their success. Why are we so afraid to share Him?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says "Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body."  Honoring God with your body means much more than just giving Him praise at church or in the privacy of your own home. It means publicly acknowledging Him for what He has done for you.   It means talking about the things that really matter.  Yes, it means talking about Jesus.

Get this.... 2 Corinthians 2:14 says, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place."  Wow!  He leads us in triumph so we can spread the knowledge of Him in every place.   God gives us the victory so we can give Him the credit.   I'll take that trade.   Talking about shoes is a great way to start the conversation but remember who is truly responsible for your success and I promise you it's not Nike!  Now that's something to talk about.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the ability to serve you.  You have given us all different gifts but the same reason for having them, to glorify you, bring praise to you, and bring others to you.  May we never be reluctant to share the true reason for every good thing in our lives.  In your precious name we pray Jesus, Amen.

Happy running!!!
www.team413.org

Just between you and me, I've got something to say - DC Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kXJdshVNq0