The sun’s shining. It’s a beautiful morning and I’ve even had a restful night’s sleep. And yet I’m uncomfortable laying here. I shuffle and shuffle hoping to get the stiffness out of my back. I really love it when I wake up feeling great and ready to attack the day. But not today. Why does my back ache so much?
Oh…I know why. I wish I could say my back hurts because I was doing some heavy lifting. You know – just working away cuz I’m a mover and a shaker. But the reality is I guess I’m just aging, and my muscles get stiff. Ugh! Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?
But here’s the deal! I can easily fix this problem. I’ve done it before. All it takes is a 5 to 10 minute stretching routine. Yep, that’s it. Sounds pretty simple and yet, it’s so hard. No, of course, I don’t mean the stretches are hard. It’s the being disciplined part that’s hard. The question is why the desire to be pain free isn’t motivating enough for me to do the actual work.
There's no getting around it
So why do I bring this up? Well, I do love a good analogy and this problem so many of us seem to have with exercise (you know – that discipline thing) is the same exact problem we have when it comes to developing our relationship with God. We know good and well the more time we spend getting to know God, the more connected we’ll feel to Him. And the more connected we feel, the more in tune we are with His “will” and the more we’ll see Him working in our lives.
Is there really a Christian who doesn’t want to feel connected to God – to feel His love and His presence in their life? Don’t we all want to fully trust and know God is with us and has our back in times of trouble? Don’t we want to be so in tune with Him that we see the blessings He bestows on us (instead of focusing on the things we don’t like). Don’t we want to overflow with the Fruit of the Spirit? Think how different life would be if love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control oozed out of us. Sure, it might be a little messy – but in a good way!
And yet, so many of us fail to make the effort getting connected with God. We seem to live in a culture where we expect things to be supernaturally given to us. We’ve signed up for the Christian life so we should automatically receive unlimited connection status. What I’m saying, here, is that you don’t just say “I do” to God and then ignore the relationship after that. (Yep, I did that – threw in a marriage analogy.)
So – yes, we must engage in spiritual exercise. We must get disciplined. Not because we have to “or else” but because we want and crave that blessed connection with God.
What's the plan?
Just as we know the benefits are real with physical exercise, there are even greater benefits with spiritual exercise. Becoming a Ninja Christian takes effort and in the next few weeks, I’ll go over some “exercise” ideas to help in your spiritual fitness plan as well as share with you some of the amazing blessings you can look forward to as you draw closer to Him.
So – let’s Ninja this thing together! See you at the gym, my friend!
Desire Truth!
Seek Truth!
Apply Truth!
For Truth will set you Free!