Devotional of the Week: Spirit Over Logic

“The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.” Acts 13:4

Tim Noakes, a South African professor who has run in over 70 marathons and ultra-marathons, once said, “Your body will argue that there is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to call on your spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic.”

In Acts 13:4-5, we read about the journey of Barnabas and Saul, as they left the established church at Antioch for the sake of the gospel—going to Seleucia and then sailing to Cyprus.

As I read this passage, I wonder what Barnabas and Saul might have been thinking on their new journey and unfamiliar mission. Before, they had been at Antioch, a place that seemed to be robust and secure, with “prophets and teachers” (Acts 13:1); and now they were stepping into the unknown. Perhaps the only thing that comforted them was that they were “sent on their way by the Holy Spirit.”

Returning to Tim Noakes’ opening quote, doesn’t it make sense that anything of the spirit “functions independently of logic”?

May we embrace some of the things in our lives that might seem illogical — the unknowns and the mysteries — because it is in these places where we are forced to exercise our faith, and therefore awaken to our truest purposes.

By Stephen Copeland

This devotional was taken from Sports Spectrum’s latest Training Table, a 13-week devotional published in each print issue. Log in HERE to view the Winter 2016 print issue of Sports Spectrum or access the Winter 2016 Training Table.