ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, GO!

On your mark, get set, go! is a phrase used to begin a competition. Originally, on your mark, get set, go! was used in the 1800s to begin foot races. The word mark referred to the place on the running course where the runner would start, whether a line or a set of starting blocks. Get set is a sort of warning that the signal to start running is about to occur, though today when a runner “gets set” he usually raises his hind quarters and tenses his legs in preparation to run. The word go, of course, means that it is time to start running. 

And we’re off and running for another school year and another season of ministry. It’s time to “get on your mark, to get set and to go!” My prayer is for each of us as a part of the Full Devotion family to once again prioritize are relationship with God through Jesus Christ, to return to a biblical commitment to the local church, and to be renewed in our faith as we press forward. I believe it is now past time for the Body of Christ to shake off their “lockdown” mentality, leave behind the bad habit of not gathering in person, shake off the bondage of fear, and get reconnected to their local congregation. Why? Because we are better together! Paul says in Romans 12:5,

“So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

Together, we are the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27), and it is important for us to be connected to each other, and to be connected to the head, Jesus, in order for the church to be effective in our mission of sharing the gospel. Being connected to others is good for us as individuals, and helps us during times of challenge, disappointment, opposition, and health concerns.

I would say that we as a church have had our challenges and problems. Last month, many of us experienced Covid for the first time and some for a second. It threw our Sunday schedule into a loop but God knew exactly what He wanted to accomplish and how to make it happen. We have many people facing challenges with their health. As a church we are looking at ministry changes with our prayer for God to lead us to a new Children’s Ministry Director. We have building needs in areas of repairs and upgrades (by the way, how amazing our the new TV’s in the sanctuary.) I recently heard a podcast in which the presenter said, “We can look at all the things that happen to us as problems or we can choose to look at them as possibilities.” I like that! I choose to believe that God is presenting new possibilities for all of us to get connected because we are better together. Once again, on your mark, get set, go!

The Bible has many references about running. Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. “

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. 

Paul also says in Philippians 3:14, “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.”

My invitation is for you to run with us. Be an active contributor to what God wants to accomplish through His church. I know running takes discipline. Honestly, I don’t like it sometimes, but it is what God calls us to do. I hope you, like me, will strive to one day hear what Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Remember… “With God, All Things Are Possible!”

 

Pastor Kevin