No Pain No Gain

“The Holy book of the living God suffers from its exponents today than from its opponents” Leonard Ravenhill

Do you remember when you were a 12 year old going to your first week of football practice for the season? The first week is over and my boy is very sore. He thought he was “in shape” and he would just breeze through the first week of conditioning camp. I taught the final day of the quarter today at your local mission to the men in the recovery program and relayed a short story to them about my boy and this week in practice. I can always relate a story that parallels life and sports.

Since my boy is still learning about life and how to maneuver through the daily tasks of football practice, golf practice, Karate and playing with his friends, he still has not grasped why it hurts when you use muscles you thought were already “in shape”. As I talked with the men about working out and studying their bibles, I asked them how many of them worked out regularly. It was obvious that a few of them lifted weights because of their physiques. But, the ones who didn’t, I asked them if they thought that by knowing one of the guys who worked out that it would help them build their muscle. I know it’s a very obvious question, but I asked it any way. Of course they said, “No”. So I asked them, “Than how can you expect to change your life by watching others?” The class I teach is called spiritual formation. We go through the book of John in 14 weeks. The guys are responsible for reading two chapters a week that we will be watching in the coming week and write down what is going on and how they can apply it to their lives through a simple method called S.O.A.P. (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer). When done correctly, it can take a person about 15-30 minutes a day to complete the exercise. This activity helps develop a habit that can change a person from the inside. Just like working out once every few months can make you sore, studying your bible in the same way can cause a sore relationship with the Lord. Do yourself a huge favor, begin studying your bible daily, it will change your life!  Proverbs 3:1-2 “My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you”.