Continuing the theme of caring for our hearts – from Drew Leaver www.drewleaver.blogspot.com
He says……
Last time I talked about the necessity of eating right for your heart. I confess, I live in a land saturated with great restaurants and so I don’t often eat well… uh, wait… was that a metaphor for great churches or actual restaurants? Okay, so the secret is out, I don’t eat well physically or spiritually. But I digress. In much the same way that I often fail to eat well, I also often fail to exercise adequately. Just as my physical heart needs to be pushed and stretched, so too does my spiritual heart. I need to wrestle with my faith; not simply to study and think and be challenged but also to exercise my faith through service and missional opportunities. It does me no good to sit on the couch (aka, the pew) and think that I am getting exercise simply because I’m surrounded by like-minded people. Getting up and going to church on a rainy Sunday morning doesn’t count as ‘spiritual exercise.’ Don’t get me wrong, everyone needs to be coached and challenged by those more mature than we are; but when it comes right down to it we have to remember that even though coaches are important their job is not to do the work for us. We must embrace the disciplines personally and get out on the field ourselves.
Disciplines like:
- Missions Excursions (get out of your bubble),
- Justice (caring for the poor, the oppressed, and yes even the alien),
- Service (washing feet and meeting needs),
- Generosity (not just throwing something in the offering plate),
- Confession (I consider it exercise because its hard; it stretches me),
- Sacrifice (giving at great cost because He did)
I grow out when I eat. I grow up when I serve. Each of the two are necessary, but eating is often much more fun to do. We must be sure to work out our faith. Doing so will keep us healthy.
Geoff
