Increasing the intensity: God created you for more than this!

I just got back from the gym, and I'm super pumped because I have just increased my weight on the pec/deltoid/bicep machine to 60 lb. That's right- you may now call me "The Hulk". I'll still answer to Morgan, though. In addition, I am now officially able to run at 5 mph for 15 minutes! Kayla and I have decided we are going to do the Cooper River Bridge Run in the spring.

 I'm raising the intensity.

I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last few weeks, and I've come to the conclusion that if we want to achieve greatness, we have to perform with greatness. It sounds simple, I know. It's probably even a quote somewhere and I completely just plagiarized, but whatever.

Basically, God wants us to do in life exactly what I'm doing at the gym. He wants us to increase the intensity.

The thing is, we get so caught up in routines. We go through grade school knowing that our next step is college. Most of us go through college knowing that our next step is marriage, a career, and children. We study all of these developmental stages that tell us exactly what will happen as we continue to age. You know what I say to that? It's boring. As long as we are working toward our "next step", we consider that a successful and fulfilling life. I don't think God would agree.

We were created by a God who wants us to achieve way more than that. He doesn't want us to just get married. He wants us to know a love that resembles His own, one that exceeds our wildest imagination. He doesn't want us to just have kids. He wants us to use our children to spread the news of His son's sacrifice. He doesn't want us to just have a successful career. He wants us to use that career to honor Him in everything that we accomplish.

Living at this type of intensity level is hard work, though. It doesn't just happen overnight, and it takes a lot of discipline to maintain. I'm not going to walk into the gym tomorrow and suddenly be able to bench press the treadmill, just like I'm not going to wake up next year and be the charge nurse at a big hospital. There are thousands of examples in the bible of ordinary people that God used to do extraordinary things, but none of them just 'happened'. God gave them a difficult task and they were obedient.

If we make a conscious effort every day to ask God what He wants us to do (and then actually do it), there is no predicting the level of greatness that we can achieve. You have to take charge first, though. You can't be passive, expecting life to just fall into place like we've been taught our entire lives. You are the one who dictates the next step- not the other way around.

So what are you waiting for? Raise the intensity level.