An exercise in Godliness

One of things I value in life is physical fitness. I’ve always tried to keep fit and placed importance on physical exercise.  And I try to eat healthily. Well… I try. Sort of. Sweets are my weakness!

So another new year rolls around, and I start over again with resolutions to exercise every morning, and to keep the calories under a certain number each day.

This coincides with reading a book my friend Michael gave me called The Compound Effect – a motivational book that suggests that if we make better choices, with discipline and consistency, these will become habits that will have an exponential effect over the long term of our lives. Where most of us go wrong is that we lack the discipline and consistency to stick at things long enough for them to become habits. We give up too quick. We slacken off. We revert back to our old ways.

Hopefully armed with the inspiration this book has provided, my choices will become habits. And you’ll see a fitter, healthier me over the long term.

Last night I read 1Timothy 4:8 – “Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next.”

I wonder how many of us made some spiritual resolutions this new year? How often we place importance on our physical well-being, our physical appearance even, yet continue on neglecting the spiritual.

I made a decision just before Christmas that I would spend the first 15 minutes of each working day, when I arrive at the office, the first, most important thing, before anything else - prayer – and specifically for my circles of influence. (my family, friends, corps people, colleague officers, leaders)

And after 3 weeks, it’s coming close to being a habit.

There are other spiritual exercises such as fasting, solitude, meditation, reading, mission, relationship building etc that we should be engaging in, and setting goals for, and ingraining into our lives as habit.

“Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next.” The NIV translation of 1 Timothy 4:8, instead of spiritual exercise, uses the word ‘Godliness’, which can sound a bit dull, or scary or unattainable.

But the essence of Godliness is self-giving love.

Of all the spiritual exercises, the greatest, most beneficial exercise, the foundation and building block of spiritual fitness, or Godliness, is love.

David Roper says, “Life is a journey into love, and there’s nothing so beautiful as a godly soul. Physical exercise is good, no doubt, but there is something far, far better: It is to love.”

May 2012 be the year when your choice to exercise love, backed by discipline and consistency, becomes a habit.