June 05, 2017

Training

Devotion for the Week...

I love to run. Unfortunately, I have an issue in my back that is sometimes made worse by running, especially running on hills. Avoiding hills while trying to run any significant distance around here is not easy. The entire town feels like it's made of hills!

One of the best ways to avoid back problems, as I'm sure you know, is to strengthen the core, and my core was (is!) pathetically weak. So, to remedy that and hopefully protect my back, I started doing a strength DVD workout once a week. The first time through I just kept laughing as the instructor would say something like, "We'll do 15 reps, 5 times through." Yeah, right, we will! I didn't get anywhere near that many reps of any of the exercises, and still I was in agony for days afterwards.

I kept at it, though, every Saturday morning, doing as much as I could, and gradually I started to notice that I had to skip fewer of the sets. I wasn't as sore after each workout either. I even started to see some definition in my arms, which I've never had before in my life! And my back has been mostly good.

Then circumstances and sickness kept me from doing that Saturday morning workout for about a month. I didn't notice any difference in how I felt or how I looked...until the morning I did the workout again. It was a lot harder than it had been before my unintended break, and I was really sore afterwards again.

As I hobbled around with sore legs and abs for a few days, I kept thinking about Paul writing to Timothy and saying, "Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:7,8).

Isn't it interesting how Paul says, train yourself to be godly? I've always thought of it as if some people are just naturally godly and others aren't. Some people are naturally inclined to spend time praying and reading the Bible and others aren't. Some people are naturally resistant to the temptation to gossip and others aren't. But that's rather like saying some people are naturally able to run 5K and others aren't. Yes, some people are able to run 5K without a second thought because they've been running for years. And yes, some people would feel they were going to die if I told them to run 5K right now. But anyone can run 5K if they train for it.

Training yourself means putting effort into it. It means seeing where you want to go and then working to get there. If I want to have stronger muscles, I have to put the effort into exercising. If I want to run 5K, I have to start by running shorter distances and build up my endurance. If I want to have a stronger faith, then I have to put the effort into things that strengthen my relationship with God.

Training isn't always easy. It takes time and effort. And there are plenty of times we give excuses for why we should just take today off. It doesn't matter if we're talking about physical training or spiritual training, we are guaranteed to have days when we just don't feel like it. But, if we want a thing badly enough, we will push through that resistance and continue with the training.
Weekly devotions on Christian living | DevotedQuilter.blogspot.com

The results of physical training are easy to see, whether it's being able to run without feeling like you're going to die or seeing definition in your muscles. The results of spiritual training may not seem so obvious, but they are there just the same. Things like peace in the midst of hard times, certainty that God is in control no matter what and a character marked by kindness, goodness and love. Those are results worth training for!

How is your spiritual training going?

2 comments:

  1. I love you post on training! Thank you!!

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  2. Thank you for your Christian insight. I have so (sew) much to do and will carry your message in my heart.

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