The New Year is just around the corner. This is the time of year that many of us begin to make resolutions for the upcoming year. We thoughtfully review the previous 12 months and deliberate on what we can do to improve our lives in the year that is quickly coming upon us. One of the most common determinations made at this time of yearly contemplation is the decision to exercise and live a healthier lifestyle. In fact, according to the polls I have read, it seemed the resolution to engage in physical fitness activities was always within the top three in popularity. That is a good thing as there is well-documented proof of the many benefits this decision can bring to a life.
For example, everyone is well aware of the fact that exercise can help us reach and maintain a healthy body weight. It is also widely known that some reasonable time engaged in a physically active lifestyle can be a positive move towards keeping our bones strong and less prone to injury throughout life. Furthermore, research has shown that regular exercise can actually reverse the detrimental effects of stress and improve our mood by causing our brains to release chemicals that make us feel happier throughout the day. Prevention of diseases such as high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and certain types of cancer has also been verified as a perk to consistently being on the move. Findings suggest it can also boost your energy level and then help you sleep better at night.
One of my favorite things about exercise is it works, even if I do it when I don’t feel like it. That’s right. Even if I am not particularly in the mood to take on the treadmill or hit the court for some basketball, if I put my hand to it, I will still reap the rewards of it. Now the dividends of my diligence most likely will not be immediately evident, but most certainly over time they will show themselves. That is a really good thing for me because if I waited until I felt like exercising my tennis shoes would be collecting dust in a locker somewhere.
Interestingly, this same principal carries over to our spiritual life as well. Exercising ourselves in the spiritual disciplines laid out in God’s Word will produce the promised results even if we have to do them in opposition to our feelings at times. Why is that? Because ours is a walk of faith, not feelings. Our emotions do not have any effect on the validity of God’s Word. How we feel at a particular moment does not add to or take from the power of Scripture. If some specific sentiment were required to come upon us before we could gain any ground in our walk with God it is doubtful we would make it much past the starting line.
Thankfully, Scripture in James chapter 1 tells us that it is the doers of the Word who will be blessed. It says nothing about the “feelers” of the Word being the recipient of God’s blessing. Doing involves only our will. Therefore, with our will in charge we can trod right over our mood of the moment and do the things that God has commanded us to do and still receive the rewards that accompany them. Additionally, most of the time, if we will take a step forward out of nothing but raw obedience and discipline, our emotions will eventually catch up and get on board; but even if they don’t, we have lost nothing and still come out the winner every single time. We are under no obligation to wait until we have some sort of emotional stirring to act on God’s Word. We don’t have to hold back until we feel like worshiping God before we sing. There is no requirement that we be covered with goose bumps from head to toe prior to seeking Him in prayer. Our hair doesn’t have to stand on end before we can be transformed by the power of His Word in our daily life. This is freedom. This is living in response to God’s never-changing Word as opposed to our ever-changing whims. This is the existence that God intended for us, an existence that empowers us to know Him on an ever-increasing level and to take that knowledge into a world suffering from the lack of it.
God’s Word works. Just do it!!!
(2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV) For we walk by faith, not by sight.
©LaDonna Neel – December 2010
