About

We’ve talked a lot about motivation this year, and clearly that’s one of the greatest challenges to living a life that demands excellence, but doesn’t always provide us with regular progress reports on how we’re doing. One of the biggest issues we often have – just like with physical training is that unless we have a clear-cut goal in front of us with measurable progress points, we may find ourselves wondering if what we’re doing matters at all. Is the work I’m putting in worth it? Am I really better off now than I was when I started?We understand in physical applications that how other people are training has no impact on my outcome, but we often miss that point in spiritual applications. When people around us aren't living up to the standard, acting hypocritically, worshiping superficially, it sometimes makes us doubt our own level of effort - maybe even provoke us to leave the faith altogether! Our responsibilities to grow and serve God don't change based on what anyone else does. Discouragement can catch up to us when we take our eyes off Jesus and start worrying about whether anyone else is doing what they need to do.