Oh, I wish I could say this to everyone I meet at the gym. Don't just exist in your workouts. Likewise, as a teacher of Greek for 50 years now, I wish I could shout from the mountaintops: don't just come to Greek class unprepared to work and work hard. It should NEVER be acceptable to get a D or an F on a quiz or an exam.
If you want to build strength and see results in your waistline, then you absolutely have to train hard enough. Sadly, many people I see at the gym day in and day out do not train hard enough to see results from their workouts. I can promise you that getting gains has nothing to do with the type of music you listen to when you are working out.
It has nothing to do with how many selfies you take while at the gym.
The only thing that matters is effort.
Many of us never work hard enough -- be it in the gym or in the classroom -- to see the results we are capable of. How sad! Somebody is paying good money for you to attend seminary. And it's likely you are paying good money to belong to your gym. Your goal when you train at the gym should always be to do something that you did not do the day before. Nobody is ever going to be able to tell you whether your effort is where it ought to be. Only you know the answer. That said, we all know what effort should feel like -- and it should never feel easy. Nothing in life is worth having if it isn't a struggle to get in the first place. You have got to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Training with intensity is the only way you will reach your goals. Consistency combined with intensity is where gains really come.
I remember a class I took in seminary where I barely scraped by with a D. Pride blinded me so badly that I tried to blame others for my lack of discipline. Maybe you're a student who is in the same boat today. God placed the seeds of success in my failure that semester. That failure -- along with others -- made me the man and teacher I am today. And that failure would prepare me for a life of faithfulness.
Whatever your circumstances, I'm sure you have experienced failure. One of the most limiting things you can do is to see yourself as a failure. Don't let a past failure steal your success today. Your greatest failure may be the greatest turning point in your life. If you are a student, please, I beg you, give it everything you have. Remember, one day you will be teaching the very word of God to others. Listen to the words of those who have gone before you into pulpit ministry.
John Calvin: "No one will ever be a good minister of the Word of God unless he first of all is a scholar."
Charles Spurgeon: "He who no longer sows in the study will no more reap in the puplit."
Bishop Phillips Brooks: "Learn to study for the sake of truth, learn to think for the profit and the joy of thinking."
My Bible study this morning found me in Acts chapter 6.
In verse 4 we read, "We will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word." I might paraphrase this as, "We will continue to maintain our focus with supreme effort...."
If you're a gym goer, I ask you: "Do you have the intent to do the best you can for every single one of your sets?"
If you're a Greek student, I ask you: "When you come to class, are you fully present, and are you really trying to give it your absolute best?"
If you answered "no" to either question, let me remind you: When you follow Jesus, the God of the resurrection, you don't have to let failure define you. Instead, you can allow failure to become a launching pad that catapults you into your best days on this earth.
In Christ, your potential is unlimited.