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Ready...Set...GROW!
I recently read a story about a retired couple who decided that they should walk two miles a day to stay in shape. They chose to walk a mile out on a lonely country road so they would have no choice but to walk back. At the one-mile mark on their first venture, the man asked his wife, “Do you think you can make it back all right, or are you too tired?” “Oh, no,” she said. “I'm not tired. I can make it fine.” “Good,” he replied. “I’ll wait here. You go back, get the car and come get me” (from Joyce Redding in Reader’s Digest, Feb, 1980).
Although we can laugh at the man who found his goal of growing physically fit a bit “short-lived,” many of us can relate to his dilemma. We strive to “get into shape” but find it harder than we had anticipated. We remember joining a health club, the YMCA, an aerobic dancing class, buying a set of weights or an exercise machine with the best of intentions, but in a few months the club membership lapses, the aerobic dance steps forgotten, and the exercise equipment lies beneath a layer of dust. The fact that physical fitness is tough to achieve is noted in a startling statistic: The percentage of American’s who own running shoes but don’t run is 87%!
What about our spiritual fitness? I can’t help but think about the advice that the Apostle Paul gave his young protégé, Timothy:
“Exercise daily in God – no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever” (I Timothy 4:8, The Message).
WOW! I think I now have a verse to give to all of those “muscle-bound” guys I see at the YMCA who can bench press 250 lbs. and run ten miles without a sweat!
Seriously, I think Paul gives us a great goal…to live our lives in such ways that will make us fit for this life and the next. There is such a thing as spiritual flabbiness, and just as there are things we do that hinder our physical health, so too, there are things that hinder our spiritual growth. Part of the discipleship journey is learning how to train and grow spiritually, limit those harmful habits, and grow healthy ones.
This year our focus is on spiritual fitness at Grace. We believe that the key to growing in spiritual fitness is growing in our seven habits of discipleship. We don’t want people to have a “hit and miss” approach to spiritual growth, or what ends up as “a short-term enthusiasm” that leaves behind a dusty Bible. We want to help people grow strong and spiritually fit as they “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 3:18)
This year you’ll probably see lots of ideas for spiritual fitness – in classes, sermons, videos, testimonies, conferences, Grace Notes articles and ideas on our Web site. I can guarantee that you will hear a lot of talk about spiritual fitness from the leadership and staff of our church. In fact, I’m hoping that “spiritual fitness” becomes a buzz word at Grace. Why? Because in my own quest for physical fitness, I’ve learned the key – it helps if there’s support and encouragement from others. I believe that’s true for spiritual health. It’s hard to do by yourself. But with others, it can be do-able!
So…let’s get Ready...Set...and Grow!
Pastor Mark
P.S. If you’d like to “brush up” on the Bible, why not and join me Wednesday evenings beginning September 16 at 6:30pm for The Bible: A Spiritual Fitness Training Guide. At the same time Catechism student grow spiritually fit, so can we!