Shifting Gears

​            Since January I’ve been riding my bike to school a few days a week (thank goodness LA “winters” are mild!) and it has been an interesting experience. Prior to this year, I probably hadn’t ridden a bike in years. I bought a used mountain bike and it’s getting the job done but for a few weeks I was doing more work than I had to. The bike was in the wrong gear. I was peddling like mad but not getting anywhere. I felt slow and ridiculous on the sidewalk, praying no one I knew saw me passing by. Ok I’m being a bit dramatic, but I definitely wasn’t getting to class as efficiently. I had a suspicion I should shift my gears but it was awhile before I went from thought to action but when I did my biking experience was vastly changed. My commute to school was cut in half! When I went up to the next gear, my strength was greater utilized, and I was getting to where I needed to be faster.
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          The whole process reminded me of our relationship with God. How often do we exert excess energy/waste time when it could be so much easier? What are we resisting that while challenging could be the best thing for our lives? As scary as it may be to shift to the next gear…what blessings could we be missing out on because we’re not stepping out on faith?

         “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

           And with faith there will always still be challenges but an eventual reward.

          “…Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. They were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11: 35-40)
            So as we’re riding through life it is important that we continue to shift gears and grow in our faith.

        “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement. And God permitting, we will do so.” (Hebrews 5:14, 6:1-3)