1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (ESV)
26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
New Year’s resolutions…I make them each year, always with good intentions. Sometimes I do well and keep some of them, usually by March I am back doing what I resolved not to do in January.
One of my regular resolutions is to do a better job exercising. I like exercising actually. The problem is finding the time to do it right. If I’m just jogging for 20 minutes on the treadmill I don’t feel like I’m doing enough, so I often don’t bother at all. It doesn’t make much sense, I know.
One of my other resolutions I make each year is to improve my spiritual walk with God. I want to read my Bible more faithfully. I want to pray more fervently. However, I run into the same problems I run into with exercising. If I don’t feel like I am doing it right, I often don’t do it at all.
If my prayers feel like they’re going nowhere or there’s no connection with God, I end up putting prayer off until I lay in bed at night and then fall asleep shortly after, “Father, …”.
If my Bible reading is not stirring my heart and the words don’t jump out at me, I find something else to do (like sleep or email or anything else).
The problem with the way I treat these resolutions is that I am only allowing myself a pass\fail grade. Exercising, physical and spiritual, is a discipline. Disciplines take hard work. Disciplines are often not fun (although sometimes you can be in the “zone”). However, the discipline is a means to an end, not the end itself.
My attitude about exercising needs to be to do it for my health. The reward is a longer life with my family and hopefully someday grand kids.
My attitude about prayer and reading my Bible needs to be about my spiritual health. The reward is a closer relationship to the Creator and King of the universe.
This year, I resolve to live heather, so I have the opportunity (God willing) to live longer and enjoy my family longer in this lifetime. However, most importantly, I resolve to get to know my Creator and King more intimately.
4 comments:
Excellent!
I hope and pray that your physical and spiritual health improve this year through good exercise!
Thanks Peter. Have a great New Years day and an outstanding year ahead.
Tony, this is a great post. There is always a twinge within me when I make my physical and spiritual goals at the beginning of the year. There is a part of my brain saying, "Yeah, right, but you know you won't necessarily be keeping that resolution, why even tell them you are going to do x or y?" But, like you said, if I think this way, I won't be exercising at all, either mentally or spiritually. I like the other Scripture from Paul, where he states, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and pressing forward toward what is ahead..." We serve a God Who is a good of new beginnings, new songs, and His mercies are new every morning. So let's go for it, in His power and in His strength!
Thanks Steve. I like the verse about pressing ahead and not dwelling on the past as well. History is good for learning but when you dwell on it you can get stuck in it.
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