• Coasting

    By: Kristen L. McNulty

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

    Growing up when we learned to ride a bike we also learned a new concept: coasting. Up until that point, we moved only by the power of our own legs whether we were walking, running or jumping. And no matter how much effort we had put in, no matter what kind of terrain we passed over, it always required the same amount of energy output from us to move forward. But on a bike, we were freed from that. With a bike, the wheels allowed us to do a couple hard pedals on flat ground and still be able to travel much further from the momentum. Not to mention how going downhill required no effort on our part, both on the hill and on the terrain that followed it. Coasting allowed us to get further with way less effort and to move without having to do a thing.

    While coasting is a great thing on a bike, especially at the end of a long ride, the concept of coasting isn't limited to bikes. Many of us choose to try and coast through different aspects of our lives. Putting in only a minimal amount of energy towards school work or our jobs. Signing up for ministry or activities, but just doing enough in it to get by. And the most tragic, going to church on Sunday's and using whatever fuel you got in the service to coast your way through the rest of your week, never "pedaling hard" in prayer or bible reading.

    There's No Prize For Coasting


    In the Olympics there is no prize for those who can coast the greatest distance, in the same way we as believers can't substitute giving our all for coasting and think it's going to turn out well. Just like a cyclist who coasts when they should be pedaling won't win the Tour de France, we as believers aren't going to get too deep into our relationship with God if try and coast our way through. 

    So what does coasting look like in the life of a believer? It looks like twenty second prayers asking God for things, but never pursuing His heart through diving deep into prayer and getting to know Him. It looks like our Bible app being opened less than our other apps. It looks like sin that continues to fester and grow in our lives because we choose to feed it. It looks like people who look like Christians to the outside world but look like the world on the inside. It looks like being content with not giving our all, with not realizing our time on earth is limited and knowing we need to make the most of it.  

    Looking To The Word


    The Bible makes it clear we are only given one shot and we shouldn't be wasting any of it sitting idly by.

    "This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living." Romans 13:11-12

    And:

    "So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do."  Ephesians 5:15-17 When we coast, we are acting thoughtlessly and effortlessly. This isn't a good thing when it comes to our spiritual lives and how we spend our time. 

    What Will We See When We Look Back?


    I don't know about you, but I don't want to look back on my life and see one moment after another when I choose to coast, instead of giving it all I have. I don't want to have a single regret of a moment in time God gave me something to do and I said no. I don't want to get to heaven and find out that Jesus is a stranger to me. Coasting might work okay for kids on bikes, but it isn't the kind of living that is going to result in change or grow, both in our lives but also in the lives of the people God wants us to reach out to with His love. Let's choose to keep pedaling through, no matter what this life puts in our way, knowing that one day we'll look back on this journey called life and we won't want to see anything less than our best. Let's say goodbye to coasting and hello to pedaling in our work, job, ministries, school and ultimately relationship with Christ.

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