The last three days of this past week I was in Spartanburg, South Carolina helping my son get his house move-in ready. We did a lot of painting, and we renovated a bathroom down to the subflooring. So we dove in full-bore, and by the end of the first day, my thigh muscles were screaming at me from all the up-and-down of floor work. I re-discovered muscles I forgot I had. It was then that I apologized to my son for not working up to the project by getting myself in better shape to handle physical rigor not normally experienced in office work and teaching.
Physical exercise does profit for a time while here under the sun. Consider it a matter of stewardship of the body God has entrusted to you as a temple of His Spirit and a conduit of His grace. But what matters much more than physical shape is your spiritual stamina so that you are “a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the Master… ready for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21).
“While bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way,
as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”
~1 Timothy 4:8
Just like muscle that can atrophy from non-use, so too can your spiritual “muscle” shrivel from neglect. And when you are weak, you are diminished in your capacity to be helpful to others or to endure being stretched. Such weakness will find you sliding into a rut of indifference, which is the opposite of love.
Training yourself for godliness is a biblical imperative (1 Timohty 4:7). “Training” in the Greek is where we get our English word gymnasium. You may be very familiar with physical workouts to build cardio, muscle, and stamina, but do you have a routine for spiritual workout to ready yourself for living in love of God and neighbor? Just like in the physical realm, “I’ll do it when I feel like it” submits you to your feelings and usually ends in frustration.
Purpose, rather, to consume God’s self-disclosure and commune with Him. A good place to start may be the eight truths for today that we gleaned from Elizabeth and Mary’s visit recorded in Luke 1:39-56. The concluding thoughts from this sermon were,
“As they took God at His word, recognized His privilege, and followed in humble confidence, they were mutually supplied and encouraged; they moved Godward together.”
Magnifying Christ will lift you up, and you will lift others up.
Develop for yourself a workout to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior” (2 Peter 3:18). Put yourself in a place where – regardless of circumstances – you can say, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” Even better is to do this with someone. The brotherly or sisterly accountability will serve as a booster to your readiness to let your light shine by fulfilling the two greatest commands, and build your stamina for success.
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