Ronald Weinland

A FINAL STRETCH

June 25, 2015
As of this post, there are about three months remaining until this year’s Feast of Tabernacles begins. Before you know it, we will be observing the Last Great Day of the Feast. Every year we are blessed to observe the Feast of Tabernacles, but to our knowledge there has only been one time EVER that the Church has been blessed to observe a special Year of Dedication as we are doing now.

We are near the three-quarter mark in this very unique observance. In this post, I am going to use a “race” as an analogy to this year because there are some comparable lessons that can benefit us mightily. It is often near this three-quarter marker in a race that one can begin to tire to the point that the battle in the mind becomes the greatest. In a real race the battle is on a physical plane concerning how the mind reacts. In this unique year the battle is one that is on a spiritual plane concerning how the mind reacts to what we are currently doing and how this year will be completed. It is at this point in a race that choices are often made that determine the final outcome for the rest of the race, just as it is in this special year we are observing.

At this marker in a race, a person can begin to let up, give in, and slow down by starting to exercise less effort. It is even here that some actually just quit and give up entirely. It is somewhat like fasting itself where a person simply quits at some point in the fast and decides to do it at some other time or not at all. Fasting also can indeed be likened to a race because of the battle against self – against one’s own mind – is very similar in nature.

So whether or not one begins to let down, or ceases to focus and fight as one should, is a matter that is solely in each individual’s hands, and in no one else’s. Instead of letting our human nature begin to take control by allowing less of an effort to be put into the time that is remaining, now is the time to actually fight against our human nature even more. This has much to do with a genuine exercise of humility and the practice of fasting itself.

It is at this very marker that a person should fight against self more than at any other previous point in the race. This is the time when one can actually dig deeper and become more resolved to actually put greater effort and determination into a far more successful and meaningful completion. This is now the place in the race that becomes more important than any other.

So it is often at this very juncture in a race that the real battle begins, concerning how we are going to fare in the remainder of what is yet before us. The distance or time that is yet before us in this Year of Dedication will largely determine the actual true success and overall spiritual benefit that will come from this entire year. It is not how we began this year or how we have fought up to this point, but it is far more about how we continue on and finish what we started!

This is not the time to let up, but a time to press forward to the end for a potentially great spiritual year for each of us. It is not the time to begin becoming complacent, weary, or lukewarm in spirit. Instead, this is the time to focus even more on our quest to more fully dedicate the time that is remaining to that of growing more spiritually and to developing a far closer relationship with God Almighty, Jesus Christ, and with one another.

This post is rather short, but it is very much to the point and it truly says a great deal. This message is vitally important to every member of the body as to how each person continues in this very important year that will also conclude the sixth cycle of 1,260 days, which is the conclusion of what this sixth cycle has been all about – the measuring of the Temple of God.