Keep Rowing

Just when you think you've experienced [almost] everything, you find out you have not! Yesterday, after a good meal, I order a Coke float - a favorite of mine, and it was promptly delivered to me ... in pieces - a mug with two scoops of vanilla ice cream, a cherry and a cold can of Coke ... some assembly required. Those who love Jesus and are serious about pleasing Him often fail to realize, there's work to be done. While we evermore rejoice our salvation - payment for our sin - the finished work of Christ on the cross, the daily walk demands some spiritual disciplines (routines, habits). We are to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). Let me assure you we are growing each day one direction or another - towards Christ in grace and knowledge or drifting further away from Him. To avoid the spiritual drift, true followers of Jesus must be deliberately row towards Him with the holy habits of Bible study, prayer, worship, service, fellowship. To the Believers at Colossae, Paul wrote: "We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1:9-10 ESV). In Christ we are securely founded by grace through faith; the daily walk, however, is one to be given priority and diligence. I "assembled" that float and it was tasty; likewise, let us be attentively faithful to the daily work as we walk ... keep rowing.