Run the Course

UV 702/10,000 Run the Course “I will run the course of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart.” Psalm 119 v 32 God has given us ten commandments, mostly stated in terms of the negative –of what we ought not to do. Those ten commandments are the root of all laws now in force across the nations of the world. Jesus summed up the Father’s commandments in two verses and three positive commands : -love God, love man, love yourself. These three precepts together keep us from doing the things we should not be doing and keep us doing the things we ought to be doing as creatures first, and children next of God. If we love ourselves for instance, we will not contemplate suicide or harm ourselves, however difficult the situation is. If we love ourselves, we will develop ourselves to our fullest potential. If we love God, we will obey Him and when we obey Him, we are blessed to receive His promises. He has given us ten commandments but He has also given us ten thousand promises as the blessings of obedience. If we love man, we will not just think of ourselves but think of ways to serve man in practical ways. In the above uni-verse, the Psalmist commits to running the full course of God’s commandments: love God, love man and love yourself. Life is like a ten thousand mile race in which we keep changing tracks from track one: love God to track two: love man and track three: love self. The ten thousand promises of God contained in His Word are the energizer or glucose provided to run each mile. In order to love God, our understanding and personal knowledge of His nature and His love needs to expand. His love is fully revealed in the nature and work of Jesus Christ, His Son. Through our faith in Jesus, the love for God in our hearts will expand or grow degree by degree, from day to day and experience to experience. God is not a religious person and He delights in relating to us personally. In order to love our fellow men, we need to expand in our insight and empathy with the suffering and need of those around us. In order to love ourselves, we need to know ourselves, our strengths and weaknesses, our hopes and desires. We need to use our talents, gifts and abilities to the limit of our potential. We need to grow in spirit, mind and body. The image drawn in the above uni-verse is that of a long distance runner. The three tracks before us that we need to run life-long are: love God, love man, love self. Even as the lung capacity and the capacity of the heart to pump blood in greater quantity and speed needs to expand as the runner runs longer and longer distances, our passion for God, our compassion for man and our desire to fulfill our God –given, God –implanted potential needs to grow. We need to pray , “ Lord, expand my heart to love you more, love people more and love my self more truly.” And He shall enlarge our hearts to run faster, longer and more productively on all three tracks. The imperishable crown of eternal life awaits us at the end of the course. Prateep V Philip