Just a lil further
Published 6:34 pm Thursday, October 17, 2019
When I hear the phrase “just a lil further” I immediately think back to my childhood days to some of our family trips. No matter where we traveled it always seemed to take forever as a child from the backseat of a packed family vehicle. Always anxious of what awaited us, I would always yell out from the back “how much further?” It didn’t matter if we were closing in on the destination or if we had 10 hours left, the same answer rang out from the front each time from dad, “just a lil further.”
The next thing that sticks out in mind is the “death crawl” scene from the movie “Facing the Giants.” In that scene the coach is trying to get the guy that is crawling on the ground with another football player on his back to go “just a lil further.” The football player thought he would just crawl to the 30 yard line doing the “death crawl” but with a blindfold and the coach cheering him on he made it the entire 100 yards to the end zone. Without the blindfold he would have seen his goal of 30 yards and quit once the goal was reached. He would have quit never knowing his full potential. That is just like us as Christians, sometimes we look around and compare ourselves to other Christians. When we see ourselves doing more than or seeming more religious than someone else, we stop short of the potential that God has given us. Sometimes we would do well to put on our spiritual blindfold and let God lead the way. Not looking around and stopping at our goal but putting our head down and keep going until we reach the full potential that God has for us. If we would just be a willing vessel for God to do a mighty work through us it is no telling what God could accomplish with us.
If we could just give a 120 percent in everything we do in life and let that flow over into our Christian walk, we would begin to see a great “harvest” for our labor. However, many want a harvest without the work of tilling and planting. Many want a victory without the fight. We seem to give everything in life our very best, except for God. Many times we seem to only give a lil bit of our leftovers to God. We will stay over for a double overtime ballgame until midnight and scream and shout for our favorite team, but if church goes over a few minutes, we panic and wonder if we will get a table because of the church crowd beating us to the Sunday lunch line. Then when the waitress or cook does something wrong, we will immediately post the negative experience on Facebook for the world to see. However, we never take the time to tell the people around us of how good God has been to us and how he helped us through the week. If I had any advice to give you this week it would be to go “just a lil further” like Jesus did in Matthew 26
Matthew 26:39 says “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, ‘O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.’”
I can’t even bare to imagine if God would have not given his very best. I would hate to think of the shape we would be in today. But God gave his very best, he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for you and me. It didn’t stop there. As Jesus prayed in the garden to the Father, the Bible says he went “a lil further.” He didn’t just stop there. Jesus died and rose on the third day. Victorious over death, hell and the grave, he gave us so much more than 120 percent. So, I ask you this question: Can we go “just a lil further” as Christians?
Go a little further to help someone in need, a lil further to be nice to someone no matter how they treat you, a lil further to share what God has done in your life, a lil further to brighten someone’s day, a lil further to be more understanding, and go a lil further so we can show the love of Christ. This week go “just a lil further.” God Bless!