Who's Stopping You?

Galations 5:7 -- "You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?"

A huge grin spread across my face as my oldest pumped his little legs as fast as they could go and he approached the finish line with determination and grit. He was in the lead at the last round about in the 400 meter "dash". He'd paced himself through-out and turned on the power during the last stretch. This was a technique that my own running coach taught me when I was young and something Steven and I had coached Brian to do - we knew the other kids would run at a full burn from the get-go and flicker out pretty quickly. 

Inches away from the finish line Brian turned his head slightly to peer over his shoulder and was at that moment caught by a tiny little kid at least two feet shorter. It was a classic photo finish, but the short little dude reached the end a nano-second before Brian did. He was more than a little disappointed, but still came home with significant ribbonage at the end of the track meet. He had done really, really well. We made sure to tell him that. 

Shoulders slumped and head down,  Brian got in the car with a huff and a puff. He couldn't believe that a tiny little dude managed to out run him.  We encouraged him, he perked up a little bit but then asked, "where did I go wrong? I did everything like you said?" 

Now if THAT doesn't merit a tug on the old heart-strings, I don't know what will. We explained - that sometimes there are going to people out there who are just plain better. It's not a terrible thing. And then we pointed out to him that turning his head to check out the competition might have cost him some precious nano-seconds. In other words: "he was running so well, who hindered him?" 

So very often the answer to that question stares back at us when we look into a mirror. It isn't what someone else has done that causes us to stumble, it's what WE do, how we REACT, or how we handle things. It was true Brian had some really good competition during the race, and even had he not turned his head to look behind him "Shorty" may have had him beat - but that's something we'll probably never know. The key was - Brian had the option NOT slow down and turn his head. That one decision might have changed the outcome of the race. Either way, his action did indeed have consequences and surly slowed him down a bit. 

So, who IS keeping us from reaching goals we set to reach? Who keeps us from crossing the finish line ahead of the others on the track? Simply asked: who's stopping us from doing the things we know God wants us to accomplish?

Nobody but us. 

We can't trudge through life blaming others for our misfortune, or our lack of success. If we were to be honest with ourselves, we've no one to blame but the face in the mirror. No one can stop us from behaving in a way God wants us to behave. No one is stopping us from whole-heartedly obeying God's truths.