Ouch

Hello there, this is Andrew, guest posting.

Michelle asked me if I would fill in for her.




I'm Sore

We just started doing an exercise routine today, and I was sore about half way through it.

Not just the kind of sore you wake up with either.  I'm sure tomorrow morning I'll regret my effort to get into better shape even more than I do now. The good news is that eventually the pain will go away if I continue working on it.  By day 7 or 8 I'll probably have discomfort after a good workout, and in a few weeks I might only get a little sore. That of course is assuming that I stay the course and don't skip workouts. If I were to take the next 6 days off, day 8 would be just like today.

Getting in shape takes discipline.
If you want to see results, you have to stay the course and be disciplined.
I'm really hoping that I can stay on track and lose some weight.

When Michelle asked me to write for her tonight, all I could think of was that I was sore…but I got to thinking about spiritual exercise and the pain of trying to "trim the fat" of our spiritual lives.



In fact, when we are "out of shape" spiritually it has profound effect on many aspects of our lives. Our relationships with friends, family, and co-workers will suffer greatly if we are "out of shape" spiritually. It effects our ability to witness for God.


If I were to ask a personal trainer how to get into shape they would tell me two things; diet and exercise.


Spiritually we can look at the same things.  Our food is time reading the Bible. The more time we can find to "eat" the word, the better off we will be spiritually.  On the flip side of that, there are many things that we can do that would be bad spiritual food for us.  Inappropriate movies, T.V., books and magazines, or the internet can all be like the Junk food of our spiritual lives.  Just like real food, these spiritual food types yield different results.  When we allow the spiritual junk food to take up all our time, we develop a nice spiritual spare tire around us, and we get complacent.


The exercise  that we do spiritually is time spent with God in prayer. When we confess our sins daily and commune with him, even about the small details in our lives, we are able to shed that spiritual fat buildup that we have gained.

In this world we are traveling through, it is easy to snack on the junk food.  It takes no effort to watch TV or spend hours on the internet goofing off.

Just like our physical fitness requires discipline, so does our spiritual fitness.

Discipline is not my strong suit by any means, so if it isn't yours, you aren't alone.  The good news is that God wants a closer relationship with you, and with his help, you can develop disciplines that will benefit your spiritual life.

It may require setting your alarm 15 minutes earlier in the morning, or even hitting snooze 1 or 2 less times.  It may mean you have to ask someone to be an accountability partner (like a spiritual personal trainer). Make no mistake, it will make you sore. (spiritually of course), but if getting our bodies into better shape is important, how much more important should our spirits be?