Working out at the gym yesterday reminded me of 1 Timothy 4:8 “Physical training is good, but training in godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come (NLT). It’s easy to focus on running, pilates, or pumping iron to shape our outer man or woman and forget that God cares most about our inner person. Paul doesn’t say that physical training is bad, per se, he only says there’s something better; namely; spiritual training. Why? Because, as Dallas Willard notes, “What does God get at the end of your life? You.” God gets you. You won’t take your investments, cars, houses, stuff, or even family into heaven–you only take you. And that’s what God wants–a you who not only reflects Him in character but knows Him.
Think of godliness as virtues, righteousness, or Fruit of the Spirit. Followers of Christ are commanded to train in these. It’s like going to the gym, but instead of using barbells and treadmills, we’re using spiritual disciplines like prayer, Scripture reading, serving, simplicity, and worship (and there are many more!). It often takes effort to find God, and to seek him is the baseline. You could say we train in finding God. And, guess what? He wants to be found!
Are you out of sync with God and His Spirit? Have you focused on your outer body and not your inner one? I literally set my phone’s timer for five or ten minutes when I get off track. I’ll read the Word for five minutes then pray for five. Start simply. Go easy on yourself. It’s better to hit a small goal than not hit a larger one. After several days of five or ten minutes, then increase it to fifteen or twenty. The amount of time is not as crucial as getting into the habit of spending time with God. Over a few weeks, up that time to thirty minutes a day then forty. I believe spending at least forty minutes with God per day is ideal. This includes reading the Word, prayer, and reflection time.
How will we expect to change the world if we aren’t changed? How do we expect to hear God’s voice if we’re not making time to listen? It takes spiritual training to do that. One of my goals is to spend as least as much time exercising as engaging with the Holy Spirit. Should it be any other way for the Christian?
It’s our joy to interact with God every day. Don’t make it a drudgery. Remember the man who found the treasure in a field? ” When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field” (Matthew 13:44). Jesus was describing the Kingdom of Heaven, and we should use the best of our time to find it, not the leftovers we have in the day.
Remember that whatever else you’re dealing with in life, look to Jesus first. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
