Pedal Pushers!

Keep on pedaling! “You were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.” Heb. 10:36

I’ve heard it said many times that life is like riding a bicycle. And, after looking into that thought a little more, there is a lot of truth to that statement. When we ride a bicycle, we sit on the seat and place our feet on the pedals. The pedals are connected by a chain to the back wheel. When we push on the pedals, the back wheel turns. This moves the bicycle forward.

We steer by turning the handlebars. Bicycles also have brakes. You must use the brakes from time to time and SLOW down. Some bicycles also have gears, or speeds. Shifting or changing gears lets the rider keep a steady pedaling speed when traveling on different surfaces.

Our Christian walk is very much like a bicycle. A lot of people’s purpose is to get between two points the shortest, easiest way; to get from birth to death. The Christian’s purpose is to get from birth to death also but to enjoy the ride along the way, enjoy the scenery, enjoy the wind blowing through your hair and make the most of an enjoyable bike ride.

The first thing we learn when riding a bike is to ride step by step, one food at a time as we go. To keep balance, we must keep moving forward. We pedal one foot at a time. Pedal, push, pedal, push. You keep your eyes forward on the goal but glance down periodically to make sure all is going well.

Your bike has a chain that most of us don’t notice but it’s there. The purpose of the chain is to transfer the power we put into the pedals to the wheel of the bike propelling us forward. Jesus is our chain. He is always there whether we notice Him or not. He is the smooth roller that transfers the power we put into our walk into the bike. If we just coast along, our bike will eventually fall. We must pedal and push forward keeping His power in us.

As we pedal, we always have one foot in the past and one foot forward in the future. Your past does help propel you forward but your past is not your main focus.

Now that you know the logistics of how to ride a bike, let’s take off the training wheels! Your training wheels were faith, prayer, Bible study, discipleship, church and so on. You now have faith. You have been trained to keep your daily life and spiritual life in balance. Now you can go for a real ride-the ride of your life!

God trusts us now but He is always close by. Take what you’ve learned with your training wheels and start your journey. Yes, we will all fall at some point. Life is full of curves and hills and rocks but we keep moving forward. Life brings us various terrains and detours, even some road blocks. If we fall, we brush ourselves off and get back up and keep going. Some people may get sick along the way and need to stop for a long rest. That’s okay. As soon as you recover, Jesus picks you up and says, “Pedal! Pedal! Keep on pedaling!” Sometimes you may need to change speed, or take a break but keep on pedaling.

Have you ever lost your spiritual balance? Somewhere along the way you might ask yourself “why did I want to do this??” Remind yourself of what you learned with your training wheels. Remind yourself that to experience the exhilaration of the view from the top and flying smoothly down hill with the wind in your face, you must first pump hard to get up that hill. Pedal! Push! Pedal! Push! It’s hard work but hard work is worth it! The view at the top is incredible! “How happily you walk on His smooth straight road! You worked hard and deserve all you’ve got coming. Enjoy the blessing! Soak in the goodness!” Psalm 128:1a-2

Your perseverance wins the prize.