Pace Yourself

Ephesians 4:1

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

One key to finishing any race is to pace yourself. When I ran track as a youth, I was taught to get a pace and stick with it despite what others did. My pace was set for me, and if I hurried it up because someone was going faster than me, I would not have the stamina to have the final kick at the end of the race that I needed to win or finish the race.

You will never finish your Christian race as you are supposed to finish it if you don't learn to pace yourself in your Christian walk. Paul begged the believers in Ephesus to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. To walk is to pace yourself. To walk is to put one foot in front of the other and not getting ahead of yourself or God. To walk is never to have both feet on the ground at the same time, but it is moving forward at a constant speed that will allow you to run the race for God successfully.

Throughout the years of my ministry, I have watched people get saved and want to get all-in to the ministry, but they quickly burn out because they didn't pace themselves. I am thrilled for their excitement, zeal, and desire to want to serve the Lord, but they must learn to pace themselves if they will serve the Lord for the remainder of their lives. Leadership should have the wisdom to help you pace yourself; listen to your leadership so you don't get ahead of yourself. Let me share why you must have a pace.

First, you need a pace to learn what each stage of the race has for you. Every stage of life, including Christian life, has something you need to learn from that stage. If you get ahead of yourself, you will find yourself missing something in another stage that is critical to accomplishing each stage that God wants you to accomplish. You can learn from each stage of life if you learn to pace yourself.

Second, be patient with the pace. It is easy to want to get ahead of yourself, but you must keep your pace. Yes, there will be times you must pick up the pace, but you must never lose the rhythm in the Christian walk. I often tell people to get a routine in their daily life because it will help them to accomplish more for God. That routine is your rhythm in your race; if you are impatient with the pace, you will get out of rhythm and routines and hurt your ability to finish the race.

Third, put one foot in front of the other when you are weary in the race. You will get weary with the race, but the way to finish it is to keep your pace, putting one foot in front of the other. You may not know how you will finish the race, but you don't have to know; you just need to take the next step.

Fourth, don’t worry about others, set your pace. If you look at others, it will get you off your pace. Your pace is what God knows you can do. If you look at others, you will slow your pace down when you see others slow down, or you will speed yourself up when others are going faster to the detriment of your race. Set your pace according to what you can do and don't change it because of what others are doing.

Fifth, the key to setting a pace is to never stop moving forward. Whatever you do, keep moving forward in this spiritual race. A pace never stops, and neither should you. Set your pace and move forward; you will accomplish much more for Christ by continually moving forward at a pace.