This is a departure from my series entitled “Life’s Lessons”. I was thinking last week that it is much harder to discipline myself then it was to discipline my children. There were many times when my kids were young that I was so tired I was tempted to ignore whatever infraction of the rules they had committed. Most of the time I was able to overcome the laziness and take care of the problem knowing that inconsistent discipline leads to more problems in the future. Sooo, you would think that I could make myself do the things I know I should. After all, there is only one of me! However, it is amazing how many excuses I can come up with to avoid whatever I don’t truly want to do. 🙂
It seems that I am in good company. The apostle Paul had the same problem. In many of the epistles that he wrote Paul talks about his struggle with the flesh and encourages Christians to walk in the spirit and keep our bodies in subjection (Rom. 7:18-19; 13:14; I Cor. 9:19-27; and Gal. 5:16). It boils down to the fact that I must allow the Holy Spirit to set my priorities and work in my life so that I can produce good fruit that will draw others unto Him.
What does that mean in my life? I must quit making excuses for not having time to exercise. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. If this temple crumbles because I did not do my part to eat well and exercise, I will not have the strength to help others and I may make it harder on my children as I age. Not only do I need to exercise my body and care for it; but, I must also exercise my mind so that I am ready to witness and encourage others who need the Lord.
How do I do this? By putting first things first. Have devotions & study the Bible BEFORE I check my email & facebook. Make sure I allow time to do my exercises even if I don’t read every post that my friends put on facebook. 🙂 I managed to live more than 50 years without all these wonderful posts so if I miss a few shared quotes or blogs it probably will not hurt me. But, skipping my spiritual and physical exercise over time will weaken my body and mind. I pray that the Lord will help me to overcome the excuses that the devil puts in my path. I want to become a vessel fit for the master’s use. Will you join me?
Ministering Designer 