NEW WORKOUT DUDS

This will continue until we are . . . mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like Him. Ephesians 4:13 (CEV)

I joined the Patterson Fitness Center last August. I was motivated by new workout duds that the kids gave me last Christmas…and the fact that I needed to get healthy again. It was hard at first but with consistency, it began to pay off. In fact, it was while I was working out one day that I tore my right rotator cuff—a potential hazard for aging bodies. And with my recent surgery, with my arm in a sling. I've got a pretty good excuse not to go. But guess what? The kids gave me some new workout duds this Christmas and the arm will recover.

You don’t have to think very hard to find the spiritual implications in this. We always want to do better for the Lord, but we also worry about old habits, excuses, and denials that hold us back. We need to remember that we have received a new outfit. The Spirit has clothed us in righteousness and equipped us with spiritual gifts to do the work of the ministry with greater effectiveness.

When you lay those clothes out on your bed and you look at that equipment, you can’t help but want to put that stuff on and get out there. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to start right off with an hour on the elliptical cycle and another doing strength training; it just means you’re going to start.

Someone’s made a huge investment in you to provide you with this equipment. You don’t want to make light of that sacrifice or waste what it cost to outfit you spiritually.