I am competing in my next triathlon in a couple of weeks, so I have pushed myself while doing swimming workouts. The triathlon is a longer swim distance than my previous one, so I am swimming longer distances for my workouts. Swimming laps in a pool can get rather boring. I don’t have any music to pump me up and keep me going. I just get to think a lot and when I start thinking my mind can wander all over the place. This can be great to help the time pass, but it is terrible when I am trying to remember how far I have swam. The struggle is real when I am trying to keep track of my laps. I usually do pretty good for the first couple hundred yards, but after that it gets tough. I’ll be swimming a lap and be thinking, “When I finish this one will I be at 300 or 350 yards?” Not wanting to cheat, I always go with the lower number. Depending on how far I am swimming that day, I could be adding a couple hundred yards by the time I get done.
As I was swimming today and thinking about my struggle with keeping up with my laps, I thought about how I can get that way in life, especially with sin. I’ll start heading down a path, and at first my mind is very in tune with what is going on. As I get further along, my mind becomes numb to it and stops paying attention.
The best way I have found to keep up with my laps is to constantly remind myself of where I am at. As I swim a lap I’ll tell myself, “Ok that was 250. You are a quarter of the way there. 50 more yards and you will be at 300.” I keep it fresh in my mind. I’ve found the same thing is true when dealing with sin. I’ve got to keep God’s word fresh in my mind. One thing Pastor Sean always asks when talking to people about sin in their life is how many Bible verses do they have memorized about it.
Don’t let your mind become numb to the sin in your life. Keep God’s word fresh in your mind and you will conquer that sin.
until next time…
(photo courtesy of www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh)