My Step Goal and Jesus

I missed my step goal today.

Two days after I made my resolution to get 5K steps each day I landed in bed with 4,347.

I woke up that day with a migraine, so I started off behind. By the time my head stopped hurting I was playing catchup while trying not to overdue it and bring my migraine rushing back. Still, I almost made it. But that last 653 steps are a lot harder than you might imagine. It would take 33 laps around my dining room table (half that if I add in a figure 8 through the kitchen). It was too cold and dark to walk outside and my son was sitting at the table, so lapping it really wasn’t possible.

So what’s my point?

The Gospel for When You Miss Your Step Goal

It’s not that I’m a failure. It’s that I struggle, and you probably do too.

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Romans 7:15-20

Just like Paul wrote in Romans, sin is powerful. But not just that, we live in a fallen world. Migraines happen (more often than not for me). Our days go sideways. Not everything goes as planned. We will struggle and fail. But Jesus….

Related Post: Faith, Fat, and Fitness

Step Goals and Jesus

Jesus came to earth to live the perfect life and die a death He didn’t deserve, for us. Because we couldn’t. Because the wages of sin is death. Not that not reaching my step goal was a sin, but it was a failure. A failure to miss the mark. And that failure brought guilt that I don’t have to live in because of the grace we have in Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.”

I love that we don’t have to earn our salvation. I love that even when I fall short or miss a goal, God’s got me covered. His grace. His mercy. That’s all I really need. Yes, goals are good. We are supposed to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).

But when we stumble or miss the mark, we can rest assured that Christ didn’t. And it’s by His righteousness and perfection that we are saved. Not our own.

Join the Conversation

How have you missed the mark today? Are you beating yourself up, or resting in God’s grace?

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P.S. I’m super excited to be getting a treadmill today. I found a used one in great condition online. But did you know you can get a walking pad on Amazon for under 200 bucks? I know right?! I was blown away.