Faith on a treadmill …

Several years ago I experienced pain radiating down my arm in a similar fashion to what is sometimes experienced when someone has a heart attack. So the doctor wanted to make sure I wasn’t experiencing some kind of cardiac episode.

As it turned out, my heart was fine. The problem was the crazy way a torn rotator cuff expressed pain!

But while undergoing cardiac testing, which included a treadmill test, I came to the realization my actual state of fitness was less than my imagined state of fitness. That helped me make a decision to improve my actual fitness level.

Many people live believing they are in better physical condition than they really are. Even though they rarely exercise (on purpose) and give little consideration to their nutrition, they believe they’re more fit and more healthy than they actually are. Yet, they are content with the myth of their fitness. That is, until something starts going wrong with their health.

We treat our spiritual condition the same way. We often believe we’re more spiritually healthy than we really are. Even though we do little to exercise our faith or feed ourselves with a healthy spiritual diet, we’re content with the myth of our spiritual fitness. That is, until something goes wrong in life and we really have to exercise an (at best) under-developed faith.

The danger of living with a fitness or health myth can be very dangerous. It can cost you your health, even your physical life. But settling for living a “spiritual fitness” myth is far more dangerous. For those people, look at what Jesus has to say as warning in Matthew 7:21-23:

“21 Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws’.”

Looking and feeling fit are not the same as actually being fit. And acting like a Christian is not the same as actually being one. Yet Jesus makes it clear that the reward for following Him will go only to those who actually belong to Him, not to those who settle for the “spiritual myth” they have created.

If you had to take a “spiritual stress test” today, would the results show a real, healthy relationship with Jesus Christ? Or would you discover you’re not nearly as spiritually fit as you would like to believe? Now is the time to settle this question, while you still have opportunity to build a truly healthy relationship with Jesus Christ.

Scotty