I was not feeling it this morning. When I got out of bed, my legs felt weak and my heart was not inspired to run. All I wanted to do was get back into bed and go back to sleep.
Thankfully, my body and emotions do not determine what I do. They may inform my decisions and help make me aware of things that might be wrong with my body and soul, but they are not the primary source of my decision making. God gave me a brain for that. This morning my mind overruled my feelings and decided that Jason Pettus was going to run.
Even while I was running, I wanted to quit, but again my mind stepped in. The pain was not a bad pain that would cause an injury. It was a whining pain that my body uses to try to get me to seek comfort.
God has given us a Word about how we are to treat our bodies. 1 Corinthians 9:26–27 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Not only must we discipline our bodies to work. We must also discipline them to rest.
Like a child that does not want to go to bed, many of us refuse to take time to rest. We just keep going. God designed us to sleep everyday and to rest every seven days. Sometimes you just have to make yourself rest.
These basic functions are spiritual activities. In making our bodies work and rest we subject our members to control. The more we make our bodies obedient to our will and the more our will is shaped by Christ, the holier our practice of the Christian life will be. We have already been made righteous in Christ by faith, but God is now sanctifying us. Disciplining our bodies to work and rest sets us free to be obedient to God.
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