Get Ready!
Dan Kunz
As the weather starts to warm in the Northern Hemisphere, more and more people are getting outside and enjoying the warmer temperatures, the sunshine, and the disappearing snow. It’s inevitable that the first few days of temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s bring hordes of people out of their houses and onto the sidewalks and roads for a run or a walk. I’m sure that sales figures reflect an increase in running shoes, shorts, and other gear. Especially significant at this time in history, are the effects that COVID 19 have had on people. For many, along with the cabin fever, have come the so-called COVID “19”, the added pounds put on over the past year. With dropping numbers of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths, people want to return to normal, as much as possible, including losing the extra “baggage”.
Several years ago, I decided that I wanted to run a marathon. Running a 5K is one thing, running a marathon is another! As crazy as it was, I actually ran two of them. The first one was to prove to myself a guy in his late fifties could do it and the second one was to prove the first one wasn’t a fluke! The actual marathon was, of course, grueling. (Although I received a T-shirt and a cool medal for finishing the race, I didn’t win any prizes for my speed!) The bigger issue, however, was the amount of time I had to spend in training. Books, manuals, and logs are available to help one prepare to run 26.2 miles. They all gradually have the runner build up to that distance. The longest training run I did, shortly before the actual marathon, was 18 miles. Miles and miles and miles were logged leading up to the actual race. Virtually no one can simply go out and run that far without adequate preparation.
The Apostle Paul often uses a running or training analogy when describing what believers must do in a spiritual “training program”. For example, he told his beloved young protégé, Timothy, in Timothy 4:8 “For bodily training is beneficial to an extent, but godliness is beneficial in all things, because it holds promise both for life now and for the life to come.” The way Paul always uses logic is very evident here. Physical training is good, but only to a degree. Concentrated physical activity will do a lot. You can prepare to run a marathon or climb a mountain. You can lose weight, gain strength, or flexibility. You can impact your life expectancy. (God will make the “final” decision!) You can improve your memory and overall mental health. In other words, physical training, for the most part, is one dimensional. What Paul calls “godliness” is, however, two-dimensional.
To continue the training analogy, godliness might be called “spiritual training” and, unlike physical training, is two-dimensional – it has benefits in this life and the life to come. As Christians, we know that we cannot come to faith on our own. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. As Martin Luther put it, “I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him…” Once God gives us that faith, though, we can reject it, we can harm it by sinful choices, or we can nourish it and give it opportunity for growth.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about individuals who perform eye-opening physical acts, is the amount of willpower it takes to train for them. It takes a lot of willpower to devote time every day to read God’s Word, to have family devotions, to devote a set time to prayer, or to attend church on a regular basis, either in-person or virtual. It takes ambition and motivation to feed the hungry, visit the sick, or love your neighbor as yourself!
It’s time to get off the couch, physically and spiritually. Make a plan and schedule time to carry it out. Do it even when you don’t “feel” like it or it’s not convenient. Don’t listen to anyone, including yourself, who may try to convince this is too hard or you’re too busy. God may even give you some rewards along the way, as well as our ultimate reward when we cross his “finish line”. More about that next week!