What is the Rock in Your Shoe Keeping You From Running?

   If you have a rock in your shoe, it would be so painful to run and it would keep you from doing so.  So, what is it that prevents us from loving Jesus?  Is it painful or is it merely our laziness to run?  If a lion was looking to devour you, you would run regardless if a rock was in your shoe.  Do we not have a lion on the prowl seeking to devour us?  The devil.

   We come up with excuses on why we do not love Jesus like we ought.  But they are simply excuses.  Either a laziness to run or a rock in our shoe.  The lion does not care if we are lazy or if we have a rock in our shoe.  The lion will devour us either way.  We need to run to our shepherd.  He will keep us safe.  He will lay down His Life to protect us.

   You can love Jesus like you ought.  Sure, maybe you have not lived up to it in your past.  But that does not prevent you from living up to it now.  The only one who controls if you love Jesus like you ought right now is you.  Jesus can get nailed to the Cross and reach out to save you, but it is up to you whether you stretch out to love Him and accept His love.

   What is your rock?  You know it.  Surely, your conscience has already told you.  Do not explain it away.  Do not be frightened of the rock.  Be frightened of the lion seeking to devour you.  He whispers in your ear that the rock is too painful and that you will never be able to outrun him anyways.  But, he would not say so if devouring you was inevitable.  Truly, he knows that you can outrun him to your Shepherd, who will be able to save you from the lion.

   Jesus, it was You that first showed the extent of Your Love for us by dying on the Cross. Not that we were perfect, but that by Your Sacrifice we may see Your Love for us and respond with love, so that we might be perfected in love. Help us to never let anything get in our way of loving you. Amen.