Jeremiah 48:9–10: “Give wings to Moab, / That she may flee and get away; / For her cities shall be desolate, / Without any to dwell in them. / Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD deceitfully [slackly, slothfully], / And cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.”

November 16th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Jeremiah prophesied the destruction of Moab just as he prophesied the destruction of the other Gentile nations surrounding Judah. God ordered Babylon to wipe Moab out completely, saying Moab would need wings to get away. He told Babylon they would be cursed if they were slack or slothful in their duty. God didn’t want a half-hearted effort in His judgment. While this is a stark and rather brutal example, it still shows that God wants all of His servants to give their full effort to the things He’s called them to do. At the end of our lives, we don’t want to look back and say, “What might I have accomplished, if I had only given everything I had to the battle?” God doesn’t want His servants to have any regrets.

In the popular world of marathon running, there is a group of people known as “t-shirt runners.”  These people go to famous races, like the Boston Marathon, and run just long enough to be photographed among the mob in the pictures that are taken at the starting line, then after running a few blocks, they drop out. But they still wear the t-shirt and brag about running as though they had actually run the marathon. They ran for the appearance, and never intended to finish the race.

Far too many of us, who are called by the name of Christ, run the race of life just like these t-shirt runners. We allow Jesus only a limited place in our lives rather than giving Him our whole life. The Apostle Paul said there are many who run, but only one receives the prize, so we must “run in such a way that [we might] obtain” the prize (1 Cor. 9:24). All of us who are running, need to choose to run with passion and purpose, fully submitted to God, so that we won’t have any regrets when we reach the finish line.

“LORD, help us to serve You with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength this day.”