A Spiritual Dad Bod

Saturday morning I woke up at 5:30 and went with my friends to the YMCA in Waukee to play basketball.  I hadn't played a full court game in years and I was excited to get to do that.  We played for about two and a half hours.  I was sucking wind in the second game we played but after that I had my wind.  But I tell you what, Sunday morning I woke up so sore and Monday morning wasn't much better.

I am out of basketball shape.

As I dealt with my soreness I remembered a couple of things.  Well, a couple of things other than the fact that I'm not eighteen anymore.  I remembered that God never gets tired and nothing is so difficult to make Him sore the next day.  And I remembered that faith is like a muscle.

"Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and His understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:28-31

It is such good news that God never grows tired or weary.  It is such great news that He gives strength to me when I need it.  I must hope in Him and not in my own strength.  It is when I trust in His strength that I can soar like an eagle and run the race with endurance (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Faith could be describes as belief in motion or simply as obedience.  The Apostle James tells us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17).  Faith isn't simply belief, but it is belief that blossoms into active obedience.  Abraham believed and so he went when God said go.  Noah believed and so he built the ark.  Paul believed and so he went to places and people that would arrest and eventually kill him.

Faith is belief in motion.  Basketball is me in motion, but I'm sore because Matt wasn't in motion enough prior to Saturday.  I was out of shape. 

Many of us have a faith that is out of shape.  

We are like the couch potato who says they could run a marathon or that couch potato during March Madness that tells you how he could have gotten that rebound that the in shape 22 year old didn't chase down.  We read our Bibles and the tales of the great heroes of our faith and imagine that we might be able to do the same, yet we are Spiritual couch potatoes. 

The way to get into shape is to exercise often, if not daily.  Getting into shape is hard and is a long process.  Getting out of shape is easy and fast.  Our faith is no different.  We must exercise our obedience muscles daily.  We must lift the little weights of obedience before we get to the heavy stuff.  We must exercise our faith in the layup line of daily acts of faith if we want to fancy ourselves ready for the main event.

Don't get out of spiritual shape.  Do the next right thing.  Exercise your faith in the things of today and God will renew your strength: you will soar on wings like eagles; you will run the race and not grow weary, you will walk and not be faint.

Flex your spiritual muscles through the Omnipotent God who gives us strength today.