2 Peter 1:5 "but for this very reason alone, having brought in all diligence, in your faith supply virtue..."
I remember going to the weight room at Brethren High School in 1981. Several football players were pumping iron and the place reeked of sweat. Although I was only 36 at the time, to these young studs I was over the hill, ancient. They were bench-pressing 250 lbs. and more. Then I took a turn. Under their watchful, skeptical eyes, I was barely able to press 160 lbs., not even my own weight. As they smirked, I quipped, "Don't be too quick to laugh...someday you'll be just like me!" You should have seen the looks of horror and disbelief as they tried to visualize themselves as old men!
Physical and spiritual growth: some aspects are different and others are similar. Unlike getting taller physically, growing spiritually is not automatic; it doesn't just "happen". However, just like getting in shape and developing my body requires effort and discipline, work on my part is essential to becoming more like Jesus. Another dissimilarity...we gradually lose our physical strength as we age, but spiritual development is just the opposite. Spiritual maturity doesn't necessary correlate with physical age. If graphed, spiritual growth ought to show a continual up-slope.
Lord, I don't want to be a slacker. Please help me today to diligently follow You. Thank You for allowing me to participate with You in growing spiritually. Please continue to develop self-discipline in me, in my prayer life and Bible study. I want to increase my "spiritual weight lifting"; I want to become a "spiritual stud". :-)
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