The Christian Challenge

Afew years ago, I joined a twenty-one-day fitness challenge. I agreed to follow a strict diet and engage in at least one hour of exercise six or seven days per week. What was I thinking?

 The first week was challenging, to say the least. On day two, I said to my husband in frustration, “If this is what it takes to lose weight, well, I am just going to be fat all by myself!” But praise God, I did stick with the program, and I lost twenty pounds.

Soon, however, I realized that losing twenty pounds was just the first step in the journey—the real work was continuing to discipline myself to maintain the healthy habits I had learned. That takes continued and intentional effort. Some days, apple pie and french fries are calling my name. Some days, my bed is so nice and warm that I do not want to get up to exercise. Yet I recognize that if I want to keep the weight off, I have to discipline myself to do the things that will lead to success.

This experience made me appreciate even more the analogy Paul uses when he describes the Christian journey as a challenging race. In this race, he advises Timothy to “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7, NASB). Paul was saying to Timothy: “Do you see how athletes train their bodies for an outcome that is temporary? You must train yourself so that you can reflect the character of God.”

 But what does that training look like? We need to look no further than the example set by Jesus Himself. How did Jesus spend His time on earth? Was there any doubt that He was radically and fanatically devoted to God? No! That inner reality was evident in His actions. For one thing, we read that Jesus would wake early in the morning and go off to pray and spend time with His Father.

 When we, like Jesus, discipline ourselves to spend time with the Father, we open up spaces in our lives for Him to indwell and then to change us. Then our lives “will be molded more and more after the life of Christ.”*

 Will you discipline yourself to make space for Him in your life every day?

 Kathy-Ann C. Hernandez