Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Wednesday
Yesterday I read 1 Timothy 1-4 and the thought that stood out to me this time was "...discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness..." As you know I'm working my way through the P90X program and it has been tough. In this context Paul is telling Timothy that bodily discipline (or exercise is only of a little profit but godliness for all things. So I started thinking about just how one would go about exercising spiritually. All the usual thoughts came: prayer, study...but I wondered if maybe it shouldn't be a little more intense - like the P90X. How could I make my spiritual exercise as challenging as my physical exercise program? I have some ideas that I want to explore but would be interested in yours. Any thoughts? After I hear from you, I think I'll work on setting some specific goals and steps to get there. I'm afraid I will have to post them somewhere because I am so easily distracted with daily things that I forget what I planned to do sometimes. I guess for me that is part of growing older.
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5 comments:
Since I am a lousy exerciser - I have no idea what you are talking about (huge grin).
But I will consider your question and hopefully come up with something 'P90Xish' (whatever that is).
Ha! Thanks, Julie.
ahh...I have to agree with Julie. I am good at exercise if it is something I love a LOT (but only if it doesn't interfere with my daily routine:) )
Maybe you can be the next Jillian whatever her name is and whip us all into shape :)
I almost went to bed without letting you know that I finished my lesson for today. I don't know why posting is all the sudden so hard for me to remember.
Here are my thoughts:
A physical exercise program: start with a decision to begin. Then a goal. You develop a plan to achieve that goal. You may have little goals along the way (milestones). You may need to see a doctor to confirm you are physically fit to certain activities (you always hear this when people want to lose a lot of weight ‘check with your doctor’). Your plan will probably consist of when to do it, how long, type of exercise.
So taking that to godliness (1 Tim 4:8), I thought of 1 Peter 2:3-11. Our goal as Christians is to obtain the entrance to the kingdom. The eight items listed are the growth/exercises we do.
Using the physical exercise model, we made the decision to begin our godliness goal (1 Tim 4:8 – ‘godliness is profitable for all things having the promise of life that now is and of that which is to come’) when we were baptized into Christ. 2 Peter 1:3-11 is the plan to achieve the goal (vs 11 states the goal in a similar way as ‘an entrance … into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord’). So each item in the list is a mini-goal. Same with physical exercise, it starts with diligence – have to do it, constant (oops, guess I have to do this physically, too).
Now we know the ultimate goal of our walk is to imitate Christ. But as v8 states ‘if these things are yours and abound’ – meaning we are growing in them – we will have little goals within each item. For example, knowledge. We need to know God’s word (how do we know what godliness is unless He tells us). So we make a goal to read his word daily. Another aspect of knowledge is to apply it (prudent – wise practical application). As we grow, getting more fit, we learn to seek out answers in his word – not just reading it. We set another goal to learn what He teaches on prayer. This is where you may seek a ‘doctor’ (the evangelist, elder, older woman) to guide you how to do that. You will be progressing beyond milk to solid food (Heb 5:12-14). So, the next goal in knowledge may be to become a teacher.
Each of the items listed would have similar steps of growth. Prayer fits into these. So is helping your brother or sister. Seeking the lost. Loving God.
Now some other random thoughts:
Solomon warns that too much study is wearisome to the flesh (Eccl 12:12). So you can overdo studying God’s word. What? You say. Well, if you only study the word but never do the other things He wants us to do, you will not achieve the ultimate goal – to be like Christ.
I thought of body builders who do too much exercise. You can go overboard. But again this is another example to going to the extreme. Reminds me of Eccl 3, ‘to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven…’
In summary, as we would do with a physical exercise program, in our spiritual walk we determine where we are and where we want to be. This is a constant assessment and where mini-goals come in. And as Peter writes, we should be growing in all these – cannot focus on only one. It would be like I choose to exercise my left leg. Until my left leg is fit, I cannot work on any other part of my body. Sounds silly – it is silly.
Well, those are my thoughts.
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