WRONG BOOTS
On your marks! Get set!! *gun blasts*. The marathon race began. The atmosphere in the city was terrific. Fans from far and wide came to support the contestants. This race was unique because it wasn’t a competition against other contestants, rather it was against time. Every contestant had a different track with different obstacles and different times were allotted to each. It wasn’t about who will finish first but who will finish at all before his time runs out. All eyes were on contestant number 4. It was his marathon debut. He was famous for his past successes in short and middle distance races, but this marathon was nothing like he had ever faced. He had barely taken 5 steps before he fell. He got up and continued running. He didn’t run for long again before he fell a second time. At this point, his fans were wondering what could be wrong. He got up once again and continued running. This time he seemed to have gained stability in the race but on approaching his first obstacle, he fell again. Now everyone was confused; what could be going on? What is the problem? They murmured. You may also be asking; wasn’t he prepared for the race? Oh! He was. He was more than prepared in fact, but the problem was that his boots were too heavy on his legs. He wore the wrong pair of boots.
Whether or not we know it or admit it, we all are in a marathon race; the heavenly race. Many try to compete against others meanwhile the real competition is against time; thus, many fail. People love to copy other people forgetting that we all are given different assignments. We all encounter different challenges which are meant to be stepping stones for promotion not stumbling blocks. However, the major reason why people fail is because they run the race wearing the wrong boots. In our heavenly race, the boots represents God’s standard. God is holy and nothing will ever change that. The problem comes when we put ourselves in God’s shoes or ‘boots’. No matter how hard man tries, he can never meet up to God’s standard with his effort. This is why many are backslidden today; some genuinely want to live for God, so they begin the race, but with the wrong boots. As a result, they fall several times, and after really putting all their effort into the race, they give up. They give up because they have found it impossible to do. But the real problem here is not the race nor their effort, but their ignorance Hos 4:6.
Now, this issue becomes really confusing because no other boots can be used to run this race except God’s boots. Without God’s standard of holiness, there really is no race. 1Pet 1:16, Mat 5:48. It’s what the Bible says. Puzzled? Of course you should be. Heb 12:14 tells us that without holiness, no man shall see the LORD. Reading this up to this point, one could just conclude that there is really no way to run this race because the only boots that can actually be used are God’s boots which are too heavy for us. So, humanly speaking, it’s impossible, but with God nothing shall be impossible Luke 1:37. The Bible is not confusing. God is not the author of confusion 1Cor 14:33. The reason why the Bible seems to be contradictory is because many people study the Word of God without knowing God. If everyone will come to knowledge of God and let Him teach us His word, we definitely will all come to the same conclusion.
The solution to this puzzle is yet found in the Bible. Mat 11:28 says Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The answer is surrender. God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him; the kingdom of Heaven is theirs Mat 5:3. We have to realize our need for God. Only then would we be able to run this race … It’s not by might, nor by power… Zech 4:6. God makes the earth his footstool Isa 66:1. Imagine the kind of boots those feet will fit into. So why do we put ourselves in His shoes? The moment God sees that we have refused to put trust in our strength and rely totally on Him, He wears His boots and carries us through the race. It sounds so good to be true, but it’s true. What Jesus did on the cross was to carry the burden of our sin and to give us His ‘burden’ of righteousness. Of course, righteousness is not a burden and that’s why He said my yoke is easy and my burden is light Mat 11:30
The moment we give our lives to Christ, God no longer sees our imperfection and incompletion. All He sees when He looks at us is the finished work of His son. It becomes no longer about what we do or what we can do but about what Jesus has already done on the cross and what He’ll do through us. God is ready to do more than we expect through us if only we allow Him. He knows we need to run the race, He knows only his boots can tread the track, but He doesn’t want us to wear His boots. He wants to wear His own boots for us and carry us through the race. But He won’t if we don’t allow Him. The race is timed and no extra time will be given. But, one thing I’ve come to realize is that no matter how late we surrender to God, as long as our time isn’t up, He will take us to the finished line. It does not matter how much time we have wasted. If we allow Him, He will restore to us the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, His great army which He sent among us Joel 2:25. No wonder Apostle Paul wrote: Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. In case you have been on this race and have fallen many times, God knows. He’ll leave you to run because no matter how many times you fall, He will pull you up again until you learn to take off His boots, let Him wear them and then, He will carry you through. Amen.
Whether or not we know it or admit it, we all are in a marathon race; the heavenly race. Many try to compete against others meanwhile the real competition is against time; thus, many fail. People love to copy other people forgetting that we all are given different assignments. We all encounter different challenges which are meant to be stepping stones for promotion not stumbling blocks. However, the major reason why people fail is because they run the race wearing the wrong boots. In our heavenly race, the boots represents God’s standard. God is holy and nothing will ever change that. The problem comes when we put ourselves in God’s shoes or ‘boots’. No matter how hard man tries, he can never meet up to God’s standard with his effort. This is why many are backslidden today; some genuinely want to live for God, so they begin the race, but with the wrong boots. As a result, they fall several times, and after really putting all their effort into the race, they give up. They give up because they have found it impossible to do. But the real problem here is not the race nor their effort, but their ignorance Hos 4:6.
Now, this issue becomes really confusing because no other boots can be used to run this race except God’s boots. Without God’s standard of holiness, there really is no race. 1Pet 1:16, Mat 5:48. It’s what the Bible says. Puzzled? Of course you should be. Heb 12:14 tells us that without holiness, no man shall see the LORD. Reading this up to this point, one could just conclude that there is really no way to run this race because the only boots that can actually be used are God’s boots which are too heavy for us. So, humanly speaking, it’s impossible, but with God nothing shall be impossible Luke 1:37. The Bible is not confusing. God is not the author of confusion 1Cor 14:33. The reason why the Bible seems to be contradictory is because many people study the Word of God without knowing God. If everyone will come to knowledge of God and let Him teach us His word, we definitely will all come to the same conclusion.
The solution to this puzzle is yet found in the Bible. Mat 11:28 says Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The answer is surrender. God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him; the kingdom of Heaven is theirs Mat 5:3. We have to realize our need for God. Only then would we be able to run this race … It’s not by might, nor by power… Zech 4:6. God makes the earth his footstool Isa 66:1. Imagine the kind of boots those feet will fit into. So why do we put ourselves in His shoes? The moment God sees that we have refused to put trust in our strength and rely totally on Him, He wears His boots and carries us through the race. It sounds so good to be true, but it’s true. What Jesus did on the cross was to carry the burden of our sin and to give us His ‘burden’ of righteousness. Of course, righteousness is not a burden and that’s why He said my yoke is easy and my burden is light Mat 11:30
The moment we give our lives to Christ, God no longer sees our imperfection and incompletion. All He sees when He looks at us is the finished work of His son. It becomes no longer about what we do or what we can do but about what Jesus has already done on the cross and what He’ll do through us. God is ready to do more than we expect through us if only we allow Him. He knows we need to run the race, He knows only his boots can tread the track, but He doesn’t want us to wear His boots. He wants to wear His own boots for us and carry us through the race. But He won’t if we don’t allow Him. The race is timed and no extra time will be given. But, one thing I’ve come to realize is that no matter how late we surrender to God, as long as our time isn’t up, He will take us to the finished line. It does not matter how much time we have wasted. If we allow Him, He will restore to us the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, His great army which He sent among us Joel 2:25. No wonder Apostle Paul wrote: Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. In case you have been on this race and have fallen many times, God knows. He’ll leave you to run because no matter how many times you fall, He will pull you up again until you learn to take off His boots, let Him wear them and then, He will carry you through. Amen.
Fawale Ademola
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