Spiritual Health

Growing up I played little league baseball. I always had teammates who had younger siblings and coaches who had sons that were not in our league. Sometime, the coach's son would come to practice with us. He would "help" his dad with practice, round up loose balls on the field, etc. Essentially he was a part of our team (without the uniform); however, when gamedays rolled around and it was time to get ready and put our uniform the coach's son watched from the stands as we played ball. He's a noticeable outside on gamedays, but in practice you would think he was a valuable part of the team. 6 days a week he would come and be part of the team, but on the day it mattered he was an outside playing the role of fan. The one important day when everyone dresses up, he's left out.

Do you ever feel that way in your spiritual life? You do all the right things but have no meaningful influence. You see the coach's son parallels our lives because we are doing what seems to be all the right things but we have no meaningful impact because of our own spiritual lives. When we do not value our spiritual life, our contributions become sidelined. It is foolish to think our spiritual growth can come from helping others grow spiritually. It's common for those doing God's work to live with spiritual neglect and fatigue.

Don't misunderstand me: you don't need the knowledge of a Bible scholar or the spiritual disciplines of a monk, but you do need a heart that's tender toward God and open to His leadings. You need to be in love with Jesus.We can get so caught up with being busy doing the work of God that we forget the importance of being God's people.

Being connected to God on a daily basis is more important than any book you read, conference you attend, or church event that your are a part of. Jesus said, "Abide in me and I'll abide in you, but apart from me you can do nothing." This image of being connected to God in John 15 is the picture I want you to focus on. You must value your spiritual life to survive the marathon of life.