In the book that I am currently reading, the author tells a story about a man who finds gold in a mountain. This man, not knowing anything about mining, decides to seek out a mining agency’s assistance. Naturally, the agency seeing the opportunity to make a mucho dinero offered him large sum of cash for the mine. He decided against that option and went a different route. Throughout the next year, he learned as much about mining as he could. After the year was over, he went back up to the mountain and dug out all of the gold, which totaled to way more than the offer given by the mining agency.
The moral of the story for me lies within the man declining the offer made by the mining agency. So often, I catch myself choosing to settle for the quick and easy route. I’ve realized that by settling, I actually forfeit the full benefits of what could be received and never reach the full potential that God has placed within me.
In Hebrews 12:1 it says “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”
Endurance is an interesting word. It describes the capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances, not with a passive complacency, but with a hopeful fortitude that actively resists weariness and defeat. So Hebrews 12 is essentially stating that we should “run with (a hopeful fortitude that actively resists weariness and defeat)”. Hebrews 10:36 says that we “have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise”. Which makes me think… When I choose to start taking short cuts, am I opting out of what has been promised to me?
