December 15, 2010
Fitness
One thing obvious to me when I go to the fitness center is that all of us are not there for the same reason. Some want to get in shape, others to stay in shape and then those who want to reshape themselves. When you think of it, many believers have a similar motivation when it comes to their Christian walk. As a young believer I went to the Word to get in shape spiritually, then I had to continue to study to stay in shape and now there is the reshaping and striving for conformity of Christ’s likeness. I’ve noticed that lack of exercise, whether physical or spiritual, sends me back to trying to get into shape.
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Gail;
-----Life within the heart and mind is maybe even more complex than the interactions of the peoples of communities, nations, and the world. Information and ideas from experiences form thoughts and concepts of knowledge. Sensations and emotions from experiences form feelings and drives that mix with thoughts and concepts to become attitudes and ambitions. Attitudes become templates filtering further information and ideas from ongoing experience into categories for rejection or acceptance, while ambitions filter potential experiences in the same manner. Sensations and emotions tend to bound the whole process to what is familiar, calling for more of what has sparked them in the past. All this activity of the inner life happening by chemical and electrical processes between billions of neurons in the brain and miles of nerves strung throughout the body can leave one’s spirit quite perplexed at trying to effect some willing control over the resulting habits and tendencies of life.
-----If life was not lived through the functioning of a physical body of extreme complexity, I would think the spiritual shape and nature of our Christian walk would be easily and immediately effected by simply willing it. But our spirits have been subjected to the living of a physical life that comes to us piece by piece in both our mental and physical experiences proceeding only through the passage of time. As long as our spirits reside in these mortal tents, this flow of experience does not stop, which means our inner life of thoughts and feelings, concepts and drives, and attitudes and ambitions are continually effected in the passage of time. If we elect to maintain self-control, then that maintenance must proceed through time as well.
----- “We who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of His glory. In Him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.” (Eph 1:12-14) We have indeed been destined to live a life of self-control (fruit of the Spirit), since the praise of His glory comes by walking in the good works He prepared for us to walk in, (Eph 2:10) and that comes by self-control. But although the Holy Spirit has joined with our spirits, He does not release us from maintaining and increasing this self-control by engaging the processes of either the ticking of time or of the intricate functioning of the physical body. Therefore, Paul can write about our being “changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another” (II Cor 3:18) rather than an instant and complete change. He can write about our being transformed by the renewal of our minds rather than a mere creation of new ones. If we do not keep this process abreast of the times of our lives, then it will be the events of our lives making in us more attitudes and ambitions in need of more renewal.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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