Exercise part 5
I started this Rant series with 1 Timothy 4:8 in the King James version of the Bible. I want to finish it with 1 Timothy 4:8 in the Message Bible, "Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever." Everlasting life. Fit forever. I can still remember when I heard a preacher say, "Self control is a fruit of the Spirit, by the way." Brought a smile to my face, but a little bit of stunned silence from the rest of the crowd. Its kind of the idea that just because you CAN do anything... that doesn't mean you SHOULD. All things are lawful, but all things don't edify. Or, like my grandpa is fond of saying, "You can do anything you want, as long as you're willing to pay the consequences." Because every action has consequences, be they good, bad, or ugly. Everything you do matters. Words are important. Actions are important. Discipline isn't a bad thing. "For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth" (Proverbs 3:12). "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). To name a few memory verses. So being physically healthy is important. Of course it is. But even more so is being Spiritually healthy. A disciplined life IN GOD. Right believing. What you do flows from what you believe. So if your believing is right, everything else will be too. If you settle the faith issue--that God is love and He loves you--everything else will fall into place. Because knowing and believing that God is love and He loves you is what equips and empowers you to love Him back. By loving people. It allows you to live Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrecion Life of love by letting Jesus live His own life in you, and through you, and as you. It allows what is inside to come out. We fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with, and it comes out. Naturally. The more you exercise, the stronger you get. The more you exercise your faith, the stronger your faith gets. The more you exercise your love... the stronger your love gets! So don't worry if you start small. Don't despise small beginnings. Take that first step. You can't walk by faith without... walking. You can't love people just in thought. Charity is love in action. Put your money where your mouth is. Jesus didn't just SAY the greatest love a man can have is to lay his life down for his friends... He literally went to the cross and laid His life down for us! He exercised His faith. His mercy. His grace. His forgiveness. His love. And I'm telling you, the more we do it... the more we can do it. The more we do it... the easier it gets to do it. There is no fear in love. We don't have to worry about running out of what we've got by giving it away, because we are connected to the unlimited source of love. Literally the God who IS love. He lives inside us. And He is bursting at the seams to come out of us! All we have to do is let Him. Exercise our faith and (know and) believe that He's in there. Discipline. It makes and keeps us fit. Both today... and forever!