Right down to the very small things

"Therefore I run: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into submission, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."

-- Romans 9:26-27

 I run. If one can actually call it that.

For the past seven years, the period between when Daylight Savings Time begins in the Spring and the start of school in the fall has been my annual running season. More or less.

The "less" would be the years where I don't really get going until mid-Summer (cough, cough .. this summer) or I suddenly drop off mid-summer.

But, for the most part — and to varying degrees of success — I run.

Now, over time, here's what I've come to realize: The more effort I put into the small things around my running routine (stretching properly, participating in an appropriate diet, performing moderate strength training on my off days, ensuring I get out and run on a regular schedule) the more I actually enjoy running.

And out of that, a simple spiritual truth has risen to the surface.

The amount of time I spend getting the small things right across the board in my life, the more substance my walk with Christ takes on.

Now don't get me wrong — There's nothing anyone can do to earn spot in heaven. That work has already been done on the cross and is accessible to anyone who would profess Jesus as Lord.

However, the things you do — every one of those small things you take care of — has a direct effect in bringing those around you to the cross.

Of course, it is the Holy Spirit that provides the revelation, and it is ultimately up to the individual to make that profession of faith. But the work we do as Christians, dedicated and entrusted to our Lord, helps draws others to Him.

Simply, our joy as Christians during our time on earth will be ultimately proportionate to the amount of discipline  we exhibit in our daily lives.

It comes down to our thought life, and our prayer life. The amount of time we spend in God's word and the chances we allow Him to use for His good purpose. It is through that that we find opportunities to witness by the Spirit. It's through that that God can use our lives to reach those He's bringing across our paths, and through that allow us a greater joy out of watching Him work.

Now, God can use anyone or anything at any moment to proclaim His glory. Don't miss that point. But when we are plugged in to Him, dedicating every new thought to Him and allowing every situation be an opportunity for prayer, we receive a greater benefit in seeing Him move. He has more of an opportunity to show us how He'll move.

We tend to think of life decisions in broad, sweeping terms but the reality is that who you are, and how you act — the essence of your character  — is developed through the smaller things.

Consider the Jesus in the Garden of Gesthemane. It's where He made His final plea to God the Father to allow any other way for our salvation. Through great emotion and physical toll (the man sweat blood from his forehead!) He received His answer. And the following day, we received our Salvation.

Now, popularly, we see this as the moment where Jesus chose to die for us. But that's not it at all. Had He not chosen to give every moment as an offering before that, He would have been disqualified as a perfect offering.

Sin doesn't normally happen in one big decision. It wiggles in through the little concessions and compromises we make with ourselves over time. It's in our very nature, and that's why Paul, in the section quoted above, speaks of bringing our bodies into submission through discipline.

Similarly, as much as we can say we'll live for Christ in one big statement, it's not going to happen without a constant surrender of our lives through every moment.

So I ask you today, will you strive with me to give the small things to God?

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"I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of  God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!" -- Romans 7:21-25

"But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." — Romans 8:11.