A little while back I mentioned I've started training for a 15K race. At the time, I was running on a treadmill. Actually, I was running a little and walking a lot, but the point is I was training on a treadmill. Then RL decided to start working harder on getting into shape and started walking. He was in sunny California and I'm sure he was mostly motivated by the desire to lose weight than the the beach babes on the Strand. But, anyway, when he got back home we determined to walk together in the evenings. Once the heat and humidity began to rise, I talked him into going for our walk/runs in the morning. To my astonishment, he agreed and we started leaving the house at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays (Saturdays we don't run until 8 a.m.). And we did real well for several weeks. Then one Thursday morning RL just would not get out of bed. I was disappointed, but decided I would go ahead and run on the treadmill. I mean, I was up and dressed anyway.
I stepped onto the treadmill, turned up the speed, and started running. After a couple of minutes I turned up the speed again. Then again. I was going much faster than I had been able to before we started running on the street and I thought, "Wow! I've made a lot more progress on the street than I did when I was only running on the treadmill!" Then I thought (because when I'm running I tend to do a lot of thinking) that's kind of how it is going to church. The real progress we make in our Christian life is when we're out on the streets, living our faith in front of the world, instead of dressing up and putting on a smile in front of a bunch other Christians.
Now, I'm not pointing any fingers here. I'm confessing something about myself, something I realize is true about me. But think about it: How often do we go to church on Sunday (or whatever day you go) and think we've had a good workout and we're in good shape? We even cross-train and pray, read the Bible, teach a class or sing in the choir. But, really, does any of that really build the muscle we need to run the real race? How does any of that really work out our faith? How does any of that reveal Christ to people in our day-to-day lives, except to puff out our chests and say, "Look at me, I'm a good Christian; I go to church all the time." It's out on the street, out with other people, in their lives that we get the really good workout; when we learn to use the faith muscles we didn't even know we had. It's at work, in traffic, even sometimes with our own family members that we discover our weak areas and what we need to work on. We can't build the kind of muscle it takes to love unlovely people if all we do is hang out with the shapely people in God's gym.
But, thankfully, I'm a work in progress and, I know, I've got a lot more training to do. It's just that, now, I'm more aware of the fact that living out my faith is the real work out. Going to church is just running on a treadmill.
I stepped onto the treadmill, turned up the speed, and started running. After a couple of minutes I turned up the speed again. Then again. I was going much faster than I had been able to before we started running on the street and I thought, "Wow! I've made a lot more progress on the street than I did when I was only running on the treadmill!" Then I thought (because when I'm running I tend to do a lot of thinking) that's kind of how it is going to church. The real progress we make in our Christian life is when we're out on the streets, living our faith in front of the world, instead of dressing up and putting on a smile in front of a bunch other Christians.
Now, I'm not pointing any fingers here. I'm confessing something about myself, something I realize is true about me. But think about it: How often do we go to church on Sunday (or whatever day you go) and think we've had a good workout and we're in good shape? We even cross-train and pray, read the Bible, teach a class or sing in the choir. But, really, does any of that really build the muscle we need to run the real race? How does any of that really work out our faith? How does any of that reveal Christ to people in our day-to-day lives, except to puff out our chests and say, "Look at me, I'm a good Christian; I go to church all the time." It's out on the street, out with other people, in their lives that we get the really good workout; when we learn to use the faith muscles we didn't even know we had. It's at work, in traffic, even sometimes with our own family members that we discover our weak areas and what we need to work on. We can't build the kind of muscle it takes to love unlovely people if all we do is hang out with the shapely people in God's gym.
But, thankfully, I'm a work in progress and, I know, I've got a lot more training to do. It's just that, now, I'm more aware of the fact that living out my faith is the real work out. Going to church is just running on a treadmill.
