Aloha and good morning wherever you may find yourself this fine day. I hope this Blog serves as a weekly source of encouragement and continues to provoke thoughts and drive positive actions in your life. This week we continue our ongoing study of 1st Timothy with Chapter 4. We find our friend Paul continuing to arm young Timothy with sage guidance.
To begin this week I'll ask what may seem a personal question: What's your exercise plan? Now, what do you actually do though? Are you one of the few diehards wholly committed to that routine or do you let your mood dictate your experience at times? I know I often begin with the best intentions, but can struggle at times to commit when I've had a long day or, worse still, a long week. But I think we all inherently understand that the concessions we make in not working out have repercussions. Not repercussions you'll necessarily experience today. But repercussions you'll experience a week or two later when you aren't looking as good as you'd like or performing at the level you'd expect. We see that working out really is an investment. And like any good investment we want our interest to compound so we can experience significant gains.
As Paul eloquently points out in the scripture below, this reality is not exclusive to 'physical' exercise but transcends every aspect of our being. We must exercise ourselves emotionally to effectively empathize and handle the difficulties of life. We must exercise ourselves socially to understand cues and navigate nebulous situations. And of course we must exercise ourselves spiritually. Let's get into the scripture:
“Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.”
The spiritual flabbiness line is hilarious but it can also be incredibly accurate. Truth is I find physical exercise much easier to dedicate myself to accomplish than the seemingly esoteric concept of 'spiritual exercise.' I wake up to do a workout and it's hard, but I am able to push myself because I can visualize the positive outcome. I can rationalize the give and take. But the truth we can't get away from is that this life is temporary. The body I am continually investing in with these physical workouts is terminal, and will ultimately fail. But all my efforts don't have to be in vain. There is a place I can make a significant lasting investment that leaves me "fit both today and forever."
A disciplined life in God is no small investment strategy. Like a physical regiment it requires daily commitment in both diet and exercise. Diet being my study of God and previous examples (through books, church, the Bible, podcasts, etc.) and exercise being living out the principles I have come to understand. I heard a pastor make a great point recently that I'd like to share: We don't have to feel like coming to church or reading the Bible to get something out of it. Much like our muscles can't comprehend our attitude about the gym, it is the act, not the attitude that results in growth. That was wonderfully reassuring to me because as much as I want to be fired up to read, study, etc. sometimes it's just not there, but that's ok! In that space we exercise faith and experience growth because of our discipline, not because of our feelings.
This week I challenge to rethink your perspective on diet and exercise and ask you to be sure your investments are in more than just this temporary body. The discipline to faithfully commit ensures we remain fit today and forever.
Be sure to share with a friend, leave a comment if this week struck you, and as always like the post. Until next week...
-the contrary disciple