...train yourself to be Godly - 1 Timothy 4:7

This is really not a new post, so much as a continuation of the last post. I just couldn't figure out how to seamlessly merge my two thought processes.

In the past my spiritual life and my running life mirrored one another. I would anxiously lace up and hit the road. High ambitions in mind. Somewhere around mile 3 I would remember that running isn't easy. And I'd quit the run. I might do a similar run a few days later, but I never built on my runs. I considered myself a runner, but I didn't eat, drink, train, in essence run, like a runner.

My spiritual life was a weak replica of my running. I ambitiously set off at a sprint. Then when it came time for discipline.. I quit because no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful (Hebrews 12:11). As a result of this quitting I constantly doubted my spiritual life. It is a disgusting and disheartening feeling. I wanted to run the race, but I refused to endure the discipline that produces the harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (the rest of Hebrews 12:11).

I still have a fairly repulsing reaction to discipline, but I am learning to bear it, and in bearing it I am learning that His yoke truly is good and the burden is light (Matthew 11:30). And it is a yoke, after all, that I truly am not worthy to bear.

I am training for a marathon, but in the midst of this training there is a far greater battle going on. I am training my mind and my heart. I am not of this world. I am not my own. I was bought at a great price.

Pray for my training. I am praying for yours.