Watchword
(1 Kings 18.25-46; Matthew 2.13-23)
It is vain for you to rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved. Psalm 127.2
Jesus said to the disciples, “When I sent you out without a purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything ?” They said, “No, not a thing”. Luke 22.35
Proverbs 26:14
As a door turns on its hinges,
So does a sluggard on his bed.
Today I would rail against inertia. “Organs are made for action… they are made to work, not to be; and when they work well they can be well.” (Salter, On Asthma quoted in Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough) When T. Roosovelt was young, sickly, and listless his dad read a book by a Dr Salter that urged people to move at all costs. And so he developed an exercise program for young TR.
Remember, lethargy in one area of life quickly spreads to others. Maybe your thought life is out of control because you never willingly budge from your couch! Maybe your spiritual conditioning is linked with your physical conditioning. Are we not embodied people? So take a walk. Bike. MOVE! WORK!
The old Christians used to speak of an unseemly love of ease. They too would obsess over which diets or schedules dulled the spirit, lowered the mental defenses, invited despair.
I’m not mainly talking about gaining or losing weight. Why would the whole of diet and exercise discussion be whittled down to how we appear before people? No, the really important question is - In our moving and eating habits do we make it easy or difficult to set our minds on the things of the Spirit?
Parents, don’t let your kids get used to vegging in front of the blue screen or white screen. And all people, don’t waste your lives constantly watching movies! Don’t love sleep. Let your hands find something to do, and do it with all your might.The discussion returns to Israel. Let me give you a tip. When Paul cites OT Scriptures, it is worthwhile to look up the original reference and examine the context. Paul almost always never just cites the thought but wants us to hear the echo of the entire context.
Bible Reading: Romans 10: 18-21
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