Stop and Smell the Roses
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Who likes to travel?
Okay, who likes to be the one driving on the road trip? I enjoy driving when we have places to go, more than that, I like the fact that whoever is in my passenger seat isn’t driving! Call it control, call it anxiety, whatever you call it, I enjoy driving.
Often though, my focus while on a road trip is to beat the estimated arrival time on the GPS. There is something liberating about looking down at the GPS and seeing your est. arrival time tick down!
As liberating as that is, you know what happens when your only goal is to get there the fastest? You miss out!
What do I mean? When you have your eyes so locked on the end only so you can beat the GPS, then you neglect other important matters. You neglect the beautiful sights. Bathroom stops. Nice meals. And enjoyable activities the route may provide.
You miss the enjoyment of the journey! You neglect to stop and simply smell the roses. You know the roses at the end are the goal, they are better, and you should keep your eyes on them or else you will never get there, but while traveling, you should slow down, see the beauty around you, and appreciate where you are and where you have come from.
Folks, our Christian walk is nearly identical. We know there is an end mark, a prize to be won. It is better than anything this world has to offer. However, while we travel, while we journey toward that mark, may we never be so tunnel vision focused on perfection that we neglect to stop and see what the Lord has done to grow us in the faith on the way.
As we stop and smell the roses, there are a few things we must remember.
You must Keep Your Eye on the Mark
You must Keep Your Eye on the Mark
As we journey through this life, yes we must slow down and see the glory of God working in our lives; however, we must be careful to not allow that to prevent us from keeping our eye on the prize, on the mark, on the end destination.
When we take a road trip, like I mentioned, I am often guilty of getting to the destination despite the journey. I want to get there no matter what and as quickly as possible. I must learn to slow down and enjoy. But, if I slow down too much or if I take too many detours, I will never arrive. I must keep my eye firmly set on the destination.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Up to this point, Paul is talking to the Philippians believers about how our righteousness is by faith in Christ and how the end goal is Jesus, heaven, and bodily resurrection. Not that we are capable of earning it, but that it is through Jesus that these things are possible.
He goes on in the passage we read to say, I press toward the mark, toward the goal, toward the price of the upward call of God. I press toward heaven.
No matter what life will throw my way, I keep my eyes on Heaven as my mark, as my goal. Through the ups and downs, I keep my eyes set.
Even when we slow down and see God working in our lives, we press toward and keep our eyes on the goal, on Jesus, on Heaven.
If we don’t keep our eyes on the goal, we will lose vision, we will lose our way, we will fall into our own devices. If we don’t keep our eyes set on Christ, then the world will overwhelm us.
If I enjoy sightseeing so much that I love it more than my destination, I will never finish my road trip. If I love this life more than the next, I will never finish the course toward that next life well.
We must keep ourselves intentionally set on Christ.
Take Time to See Your Growth
Take Time to See Your Growth
As we do so, Paul reminds us in that passage that we don’t take the credit. We know that all that we are and all that we do is only because of the grace of Jesus Christ.
As we remember that, we can take time to see our growth.
The Scripture is no stranger to taking time to talk about people’s growth. Look at some members of Scripture we have talked about lately, David. Psalm 51:1–2 “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.”
David, the great king and greater sinner. But, David grew and repented.
What about Rahab, the harlot who was then included in Christ’s bloodline.
What about Paul, in this very passage Paul talks about who he was and who he now is in Christ.
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Growth needs to be observed. The best way to keep a strong spirit in the faith is to witness the growth that has taken place in your life.
And, growth is not always uphill. In order to properly grow, one must fail.
Rahab definitely failed after her conversion. David failed epically, which led to repentance and growth in his faith, Paul would admit before anyone that he was a sinner. But, when we sin, when we go down in our faith, we have two options.
The enemy and the devil will discourage you so much that you will be tempted to stay down, you will be tempted to continue going down. “Oh, I have done this sin or that sin, so I may as well just do them all.” This is not faith in Christ at all! For faith in Christ looks at our sin and says “Shoot, yeah I sinned, God forgive me, I am going to get up and do better next time.”
For real faith knows what real grace looks like.
We can go down down down into our sin and shame and forget about God, or we can admit what we have done, repent, and trust God’s grace to override our shame and sin. We can start new every day.
We should take time to see our growth in the Lord. But, we should do it like Paul and David, with total humility giving the Lord all due credit.
Your growth is only because of Christ and in Christ, so, as you witness your growth, be sure to give God the credit.
Give God the Credit
Give God the Credit
In other words, give God the glory for the growth in your life. It makes no sense to take personal pride, sinful pride, in your spiritual growth. Yes, you have put forth work, but God is the one who has turned that work into growth.
Psalm 51:10–12 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; And take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit.”
David in this psalm is showing us this truth. He says “Oh God, you create in me a clean heart. You renew a right spirit within me.”
Why?
Because David knows that he cannot be the one to purify himself, but God can purify Him.
You cannot grow closer to the Lord alone, it takes the working of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Yes you should press on in this life toward the prize of eternity, yes you should stop and see the growth that has taken place in your life. But, just as true is this: You must give God the glory for that growth, for if you don’t, you will become prideful and will stop growing closer to God.
This is a practice that we see all throughout the Scriptures. From Abraham, to David, to Paul, and eve Christ gave the Father the glory when good things happened in their lives.
When I head out on a road trip, I could have all faith in myself to get to the destination and do you know what would happen? I would never get there.
Rather, I use my GPS. Even if I know where I am going, I don’t know what obstacles are going to be on the road, so I trust the GPS to take me around them or through them, whichever is best for the trip.
When Calle and I went to Gatlinburg for vacation a couple of weeks ago, we did not realize that Rod Runs would be taking place when we went. If you have never been around Rod Runs, let me enlighten you.
Imagine 10,000 18 year old boys with their lifted and loud trucks cruising and doing burnouts all up and down the strip in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg at 10 mph.
It is impossible to get anywhere on the strip…
So, we trusted our GPS. A couple of times, it got sketchy! We ended up on top of a mountain on a one-lane road. Scary. But we trusted, and got back to our location.
And when we got to our Air BnB, I was thankful for my GPS, for without it, we would not have gotten where we needed to go.
In life, we know the goal, we know the end, we know how to get there, the Scriptures tell us. However, without God as our pilot, we will still end up lost. Why? We know nothing about what obstacles or troubles lie ahead, and if we do, we are not wise enough to know if we should wait in traffic or go around.
Jesus is not just the gps of our life, he is the road, the road map, the vehicle, and the fuel. Without Him, the end is not going to be heaven. You must give God the glory for working in your life and causing growth to take place.
Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
As a Christian, you will grow. If you have a relationship with God, you will grow. Again, that growth is not going to be linear, it will have plenty of ups and plenty of downs. Plenty of times where it is easy to praise God and plenty of times where you wonder if He is even there. Plenty of times where things are so good you forget to call on God and times when things are so bad all you can think to do is call on God.
Growth is natural, but growth in the Lord, growing closer to God, is not going to happen without a constant relationship with Him.
So, keep your eyes forward and up, on the prize that awaits all who trust in Him, heaven eternal.
But, don’t miss the enjoyment of the journey. No, this life is not the end, but it is something we can enjoy daily. Bask in the enjoyment of growth in the Father.
We know there is an end mark, a prize to be won. It is better than anything this world has to offer. However, while we travel, while we journey toward that mark, may we never be so tunnel vision focused on perfection that we neglect to stop and see what the Lord has done to grow us in the faith on the way.
Don’t try so hard to beat the GPS, rather, stop and smell the roses. Press toward the mark, and give God the glory for the growth in your life.
SONG
Conclusion
Conclusion
With following Jesus comes some standards, we are supposed to live a certain way, we are supposed to behave and treat others a certain way, we are supposed to love God above all else.
However, at times, we are so focused on being perfect that we 1) forget about the grace of God and 2) make ourselves miserable.
Why?
Because we don’t stop and see what God has already done in our lives. How much we have grown. How the Lord has blessed us. We neglect God’s blessings when we are too focused on being perfect.
Let’s end this very simply: You are not perfect. God is perfect. So, as you strive to live like Christ, as you strive toward heaven, cut yourself some slack, slow down, stop and smell the roses. See what God has done in your life.
Maybe you are here today and you don’t think God has done anything in your life. Maybe you don’t follow Jesus, I invite you to come pray and let us help you know how to follow Jesus with your life.
Maybe you are here and you are miserable because you are trying so hard to be perfect that you don’t see what God has done in your life. Would you come spend some time with your gracious God this morning?
