Who or what motivates me?

 Exercise and prayer are on my to-do list but both require great determination. Exercise is hard and so is extended prayer. This morning, I’m challenged to think about both, first as what motivates me to consider them necessities, and second to rate them accordingly.

First, the Bible says: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) While eating and drinking are necessities, exercise and prayer (especially prayer), are high on the list. By this verse, do I do these things for His glory? What should that look like and what difference would it make? I’ve questions to answer.

Is God asking me to do either one? Prayer is a given. All the Bible says about exercise is that every athlete exercises self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable reward. (1 Corinthians 9:25). And while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. (1 Timothy 4:8) While not commanded, exercise is not forbidden, however self-control in food and activities tends to aid control of ‘self’ in other areas. But exercise to have a fit body should not be an obsession  or be the sole goal of life.
 
Charnock challenges me to put the rule of God and His glory as my main motivation.  He points out that people will abstain from excess and other things that will ruin their health, not because God told them not to do it. It is merely being kind to their health, not respecting or observing the rights of God to say, “Thus saith the Lord.” 

Not only that, demons may be subservient to God but not on account of loving obedience to His will or sovereignty, totally unlike Jesus who “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8)

Obedience is also to be sincere and to only God. 

Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” (Matthew 4:10)
So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. (Acts 4:18–19)
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. (Colossians 3:23)

Also, I cannot pick and choose among His commands. This would be choosing what I want, and treating His authority as if He is only half sovereign. He is Lord of the world, and His laws are to be obeyed in every part of the world, not just in a particular climate or territory.

Obedience must be indisputable too, as illustrated by the centurion that had obedience from his soldiers who did what He ordered. 

For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (Matthew 8:9)

It is even more fit for me to I obey promptly when God gives me an order. I may not understand some of them, but He is sovereign, and therefore it is without dispute that I am to obey Him for no other reason than: “Thus saith the Lord.”

And the last point that speaks greatly to my situation regarding prayer and exercise is that my obedience must be joyful, not dull, feeble, sour-tempered or sad. This would suggest that His commands are grievous, without the peace and pleasure He proclaims to be in them, and that He deserves no respect from me if I obey him only because I must, and not because I will or because I love Him. 

Obedience is submission, an act of the body, not just of the mind and heart. David wrote: “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.” (Psalm 119:24) This should be true for me also.

PRAY: Lord God, as soon as I read this, I confessed to You my failure of attitude and right motive to do what You call me to do. Not always, but enough to reveal the selfishness of my heart and how that spoils the joy of doing what You ask. This may seem small to others, but I am aware already of a deep change of heart from listening to Your voice and agreeing that my attitude is not always what it should be. Thank You for Your forgiveness and Your power to cleanse and change, to make a difference, and to bless me. Amen.

Keeping resolutions

It is nearly the middle of the month and I haven’t even made any New Year’s resolutions. The breaking of them is so common that even the jokes are tiresome. However, my lack of resolutions is not a reflection of a “why bother” attitude but of my theology. I firmly believe that apart from Christ, I can do nothing.

I also believe that in Christ, I can do all things, which makes the keeping of resolutions possible — only if what I resolve to do is the will of God. This means being careful about what I plan and what I ask for. God takes His will seriously, but any resolutions I make outside of that are doomed — in spite of my best efforts and repeated prayers for His help.

Finding the will of God might seem perplexing, but it is not difficult; read the Bible. The difficulty with it is obedience to what I find in that Book. For instance, one ‘resolution’ could be: have a more grateful attitude…

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

After pondering this particular ‘will of God’ for the past few days, and after reading a book on gratitude, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is easy when all things go well, but impossible if they don’t. While God is not asking me to be thankful for all circumstances, His will is that I am thankful during trials, pain and adversities. How can I develop a response of obedience to this?

Today’s devotional reading begins with a question: How may the habit of thankfulness be formed and maintained? He says to just begin, even with the good stuff, then keep on searching for material for gratitude and continuing to be thankful hour by hour, day by day, thus forming the habit. 

He adds that this requires self-control and reminds readers that a musician or an athlete will practice constantly. Why can’t Christians? “They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:25). Why then would I shrink from effort to build a habit that is the will of God for me? I do it because my sinful nature would rather gripe and complain.

It seems something else needs to be said about gratitude and other resolutions to obey God’s will. Doing any of it requires being filled with the Holy Spirit. Apart from Christ, we are in the flesh and eventually the flesh will do what the flesh does — resist the will of God.

Actually, the faculty of self-control (needed to obey and build habits) is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Even though gratitude is not listed as spiritual fruit, the power needed to make it happen is on this list…

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–23)

As I make effort to be more thankful, I notice that being filled with the Spirit goes along with it. As the old question about the chicken or the egg, I don’t know what comes first, but suspect it is being Spirit-filled. My reasoning is that giving thanks is sometimes easy, sometimes not so easy, but when I am filled with the Spirit, it is simply automatic. This means I should concentrate on being filled with the Spirit rather than struggling to do anything else God wants me to do.

How to be filled with the Spirit could take pages, but the quick version is this: confess known sin and ask God to do fill me. Focus on obedience to His Word. When obedience fails, repeat steps one and two. As this cycle is repeated, from the heart gratitude begins to flow.