Godliness Exercises
Wednesday 9th July
”How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?” This famous question, by a well-known old baseball philosopher, provokes many thoughts on the subject of growing old.
We like the grandmother’s answer to her granddaughter’s question. The young girl turned to her grandmother and asked, ”Do old people think any differently than young people do?” The grandmother responded with a smile, ”No they don’t, and I know, because I have asked them.”
It has been said that we are only as old as we feel and based on this, some young people evidently feel very old at times.
Probably how we feel does to a great degree determine how old we seem. We read concerning Moses, ”And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” No doubt he did not feel a hundred and twenty with health this good.
The big questions are, how old do we feel, and do we think any differently than we did 10, 20 or 30 years ago?
If we have been faithfully doing our godliness exercises, than we really should be thinking better that we did before. We realize that to some degree, physical exercise does seem to help keep the body feeling young. It just stands to reason then, that godly exercises should keep our minds spiritually alert, for Paul has told us that ”bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having a promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”
What spiritual calisthenics do we do every day? Every athlete knows that he must do his stretching exercises daily, followed by a vigorous workout to keep his body in shape.
If this is true physically, isn’t it also true mentally and spiritually? The mind that is not stretched seems to shrink and the brain also needs to have a vigorous workout to keep it in shape.
Those in the world are far more conscious of their bodies than they are of their minds, but we are different. We realize that we cannot by taking thought add one cubit unto our stature. Jesus said so, but by taking thought we can add great spiritual height. Paul has told us that if ”Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that we might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
So our minds can be expanded by faithfully doing our godliness exercises on a daily basis. It is now up to each one of us to work up our own exercise program just as an athlete would do in training for a championship event.
We really are in training for a championship event, for we are all preparing for the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ who will determine at his coming just what kind of spiritual shape each of us is in as a result of our godliness fitness program.
Those who have faithfully kept up their spiritual exercises will be accepted by our Lord to be with him in his kingdom forever. Then it won’t make any difference how old we are, for we will be like the angels which cannot die, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.