Recently, I've gotten back into working out. Surely none of you have ever fallen off the exercise wagon. Well, I have all the excuses: school, homework, job search, blah, blah blah. But flabby muscles don't care what the excuses are, do they? They simply keep getting flabbier, no matter the cause.
So, I'm easing into by doing an exercise I really love doing. Once I can get myself to do it again, I remember how good it feels--and then how good I feel when I get myself to do it, which motivates me to want to do it more. In our area, this activity takes place in a pool that has what's called a current channel. This means they've created a sort of meandering, river-like effect in an oval channel that has jets of water to provide a directional flow, a current. You don't notice it much when you go the same direction of the current.
What I like to do, however, is to go the opposite direction, against the current. The first time I did it, four years ago, it felt quite a bit like being in a rip tide. I know, having been in a rip tide as a kid. That's another story. But after building up to the challenge of it, I now love the workout of going that direction. That's how I built up my quads before my knee replacement. My doctor was so impressed--he said he wanted to bottle whatever I was doing!
It makes me wonder how I slipped away from my faithful routine, so that here I am, starting over again.
Isn't that how we are with the Lord, and opening up the treasures he has for us in his Word? The more we see a verse that blows our socks off, the more we want to read another, but then we get distracted. Or, living a life of praise and thankfulness. Don't we start forgetting all that God is constantly doing for us?
And what is crazier is that I already pay for the privilege of having the swimming pool available every day in my homeowners fees, whether I use it or not. What a waste not to enjoy and benefit as much as possible!
Need I even mention WHO paid for God's riches, so we could enjoy them freely and without restraint?
Friends, let's shoot the wad! We have storehouses of treasures at our disposal, and we live like we're scraping by with yesterday's leftovers.
Let's live like People of the Name we represent, demonstrating his extravagant goodness and mercy poured out on us, knowing that HE is going ahead of us and preparing a place for us. Let's go, dancing in our hearts, if not in the streets. Praise his glorious Name!
The joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
No comments:
Post a Comment