Hey folks. Thanks for stopping by. I'm so glad you're here, tuning into God with this zany surfer as your guide. That's just it. Life is zany (crazy) at times. In my own life, there are very few things that are "normal." But two of them are these: daily Bible study, and daily exercise. This morning I was in 1 Thess. 5.
There's a verse I wanted to memorize in the Greek. In fact, I remember writing an entire term paper in college on this one verse.
After writing it down as you see above, I recited it to myself over and over again while at the gym this morning.
Here's how I might translate it:
Now may the very God who gives us peace make you holy in every way. May he keep your whole being -- spirit, soul, and body -- free from every fault when our Lord Jesus Christ comes.
Isn't that a great prayer? God desires to leave no part of us unsanctified -- our reasoning, our intellect, our affections, our will, even our bodies. Our entire being is to be dedicated to and employed in God's service. Physical exercise can become a great practice that transports us into the weightier matters of the spirit. The more I prove to myself the sufficiency of God's grace in my athletic endeavors, the more I will be equipped to face tough times in my spiritual walk.
Workouts require time and effort. I apply myself no less in my daily Bible study than in my gym work. Both the material and immaterial parts of our being are important to God. That's why, after a good workout (be it spiritual or physical), we can say with Paul, "Whatever I am now, it's all because God poured out his grace on me. For I worked hard, yet it was not I, but God who was working through me by his grace" (1 Cor. 15:10).
In short, it's all grace. I was reminded of this when I saw this interview after one of the Flying Pig Marathons in Cincinnati.
Watch until the end, where the legally blind winner of the women's race gives glory to God for her stellar performance. Thank goodness for runners like this.
Believers, rather than focusing on our inadequacies, let's remember that it's God's grace from which we labor. He has the ability to strip away all the parts we get wrong and help us to embrace life, warts and all. That's just how much he loves us.