Last spring, I took my dog Murphy for a run. He had been sitting around in the back yard most of the winter, so I thought that he would enjoy the chance to get out on the open road.
I was wrong!
As we started running, he began going slower and slower. This was strange. Normally, I can hardly keep up to him. Then he started limping. I did not think too much of it at the time. After all, he is getting older and he had put on a lot of weight over the winter. Eventually he stopped running all together.
It turns out that the pads on his paws were all cracked, so I took him home and we called the vet. She explained that a combination of the cold weather and the lack of real exercise had caused his paws to become hard and unable to take the force of running on the road, so we had to bandage his paws and soften them up with ointments so that they could heal.
The moral of the story: Lying around all winter and getting fat did nothing to help my dog prepare for running. In fact, being lazy was harmful to him when he really needed to work.
Spiritually, the same principle applies. If we are lazy in our faith, if we are just coasting and being spoon-fed by someone else, or worse yet, if we are neglecting our faith all together, we too will be totally unprepared to face the challenges that come.
In Ephesians 6, we are encouraged to “put on the full armour of God” so that we are prepared to fight. This armour includes things like truth, righteousness, a knowledge of the gospel, faith, salvation the word of God and prayer.
The writer of the book of Hebrews puts it this way: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity” (Hebrews 5:11-6:1a).
It is important to pay attention to our spiritual growth and strength. It is the only way to be ready for whatever is to come.
I was wrong!
As we started running, he began going slower and slower. This was strange. Normally, I can hardly keep up to him. Then he started limping. I did not think too much of it at the time. After all, he is getting older and he had put on a lot of weight over the winter. Eventually he stopped running all together.
It turns out that the pads on his paws were all cracked, so I took him home and we called the vet. She explained that a combination of the cold weather and the lack of real exercise had caused his paws to become hard and unable to take the force of running on the road, so we had to bandage his paws and soften them up with ointments so that they could heal.
The moral of the story: Lying around all winter and getting fat did nothing to help my dog prepare for running. In fact, being lazy was harmful to him when he really needed to work.
Spiritually, the same principle applies. If we are lazy in our faith, if we are just coasting and being spoon-fed by someone else, or worse yet, if we are neglecting our faith all together, we too will be totally unprepared to face the challenges that come.
In Ephesians 6, we are encouraged to “put on the full armour of God” so that we are prepared to fight. This armour includes things like truth, righteousness, a knowledge of the gospel, faith, salvation the word of God and prayer.
The writer of the book of Hebrews puts it this way: “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity” (Hebrews 5:11-6:1a).
It is important to pay attention to our spiritual growth and strength. It is the only way to be ready for whatever is to come.
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