Honoring the Lord with spiritual training

By Rob Hurtgen

Recently I competed in my first triathlon. Ever since I was a kid watching the Ironman Triathlon from Kona, Hawaii, broadcast into the comfort of my living room, I wanted to compete in a triathlon. Swimming, biking, running and competing against yourself and with others who enjoy doing the same is a great way to spend a couple of early morning hours. I found a local race and signed up for my first super sprint distance triathlon. Little did I realize how preparing for this race would bring spiritual truths to the forefront of my life.

Swim, bike and run sounds like fun until you begin to process how far you are going to run, how long you are going to swim and the actual distance that needs to be covered on a bike. Until you are in the thick of training, 12 miles on a bike does not seem that far. Training takes intentional effort. So does spiritual growth.

Carving out time to train meant looking at my calendar, my kids' activities, expectations for home and work and deciding when I would train and what I would do. Training was never convenient and seemed to require more mental and emotional effort to start than physical effort to train. The idea of racing was great; it was the training that was hard.

The ideas of prayer, Bible study and even living out God's purpose for your life are great to talk about. At some point, though, you actually have to do them. You have to pray when you do not feel like it. You have to read the Bible and wrestle with what does not seem to make sense. Often living out God's purposes and callings comes with the difficulty of sacrifice, suffering and even rejection.

The Bible in 1 Timothy 1:7b-8 says, "Take time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit. Bodily fitness has a certain value, but spiritual fitness is essential both for this present life and for the life to come."

Physical and spiritual discipline is remembering what you want and adjusting your actions accordingly. "Want to," "would like to" and "one day I will" eventually give way to slow, steady, slogging it out training. Spiritual training, like physical training, is daily, bit-by-bit growing in ways that know and honor the Lord. It is not an overnight miracle, but a daily walk.

Now, to train for the next race.