PENnED

Read: 1 Timothy 4:1-11

About a couple of months ago a friend of mine offered to check my blood pressure after checking his. I said OK. I was confident that mine would be normal as it always had been. But to my dismay it was high–within the hypertensive level! I went to see a doctor who gave me two options: a mild medication or I diet and exercise. I chose the latter.

We do not take our health for granted. During the holidays, some of us ate more and exercised less. Perhaps now we’re trying to reverse that. But there is another area of our life that we should even be more concerned about. And our Scripture text speaks directly to the issue: 

⁷ Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. ⁸ For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

We need spiritual training. Like in physical training, we do not have to start with a regimen that is way beyond our ability to do. Sometimes we, preachers, give people the impression that for them be spiritually healthy they need to be just like us–deep in theological understanding. (Sometimes we become “too deep” that we speak like we’re from another planet and yet tend to blame people when they don’t get it! Sorry.) Well, bear in mind that theology is also our “bread and butter” so, like physical trainers who spend all day and all week in the gym, you shouldn’t be surprised if you see some bulging “spiritual muscles” among some pastors or preachers.

But just as muscles as huge as watermelons are not required for one to become healthy, and so eating healthy and walking regularly is a sufficient daily regimen, so for most believers a daily “walk with the Lord” may be enough. Unless, of course, one wants and have the time for more. The simple advice of an old Sunday School song “Read your Bible, pray everyday” is still good. And don’t worry about those stuff you don’t understand. Here’s our little secret: theologians and so-called Bible scholars don’t understand everything either!

Indeed it’s a laudable thing to “move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1). But let us not assume that the “intermediate” or “advance” teachings are all tough stuff. In our text, which I think has something to do with maturity (“godliness,” and therefore “beyond the elementary teachings”), the instruction is quite simple and straightforward: “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales….” And so are the other teachings in this passage. So don’t worry about whether or not you have the right spiritual regimen. If you read your Bible–with the determination to understand what you can and apply them–and pray everyday, I think you’ll be OK.

“Read your Bible, pray everyday and you’ll grow, grow, grow!”