1 Timothy 4:7b-15

I remember when I first came to Kenbridge. I was looking for a place to work out. I found it at the “House of Pain.” If you don’t know where that is, you can ask someone in Victoria. It’s an amazing place with a bunch of guys who accepted me for who I was and challenged me to work my rear off every time I came to work out. It’s not for the faint of heart, it’s for those faithful to a fault. It took dedication, commitment, and a willingness to sacrifice to achieve my training goals. Those days are gone, but I think about them a lot. Now, I’m older, smaller and softer (haha), but I’ll always be grateful for the relationships I gained through my time with the guys.

Think about your life, about the things you find yourself willing to go through in order to achieve certain goals you might have in your life. Maybe you want to gain weight, lose weight, plan and eat meals that are better for you, or just become more healthy in general. It takes faithfulness, time, preparation, and sacrificing the “things” you really “want,” right? If you want to meet the goals bad enough, then like Imagine Dragons, you’ll do “Whatever It Takes” to achieve them.

Now, think about your relationship with God in Christ Jesus. What training have you done to become a more faithful follower of Jesus? What preparation do you make in your daily routine to pray more, read your bible more often, offer your time to someone less fortunate than you? Most of the time, we don’t just wake up and become better Christians. It’s something that requires work, sacrifice, energy and intentionality. Do you want a closer relationship with God? How badly? What are you willing to do in order to achieve it?

Do you know how badly God wants to have a relationship with you? Do you know what He was willing to do to achieve it? Sacrificing His son was a pretty good start. Raising him up 3 days later wasn’t bad either.

Paul tells us in 1 Timothy that training the body is good for this life, but to train for holy living helps us not just in this life but in the life that is to come. We are to think on these things, immerse ourselves in them, commit ourselves to them. My hope is that as much as we strive to meet our physical goals, we would also be as impassioned to achieve our goals in faith as well.

Tim Beck is pastor of Kenbridge United Methodist Church. His email address is revtimbeck@gmail.com.