22nd May 2018

I must be losing it. I was standing on the train the other day, and a lady asked me if I wanted to sit down. And she looked older than I was! It reminded me of a time in my twenties when I bought some weights at a sport’s shop, and the female attendant asked if I needed a hand to carry them to the car. Really! I must look like Mac from that old Charles Atlas ad on the back of the Archie comics.

Lucky the Christian Faith is not all about chiselled calves and big biceps. How does the Book put it? ‘His pleasure in not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love’. The apostle puts it this way: ‘Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.’

So that’s where I’ll put my effort. Not in building arms of steel, but in developing a devoted heart. And not in sculpting my abs to look like a six-pack of Easter buns, but in training my heart to love the things that God loves, and to defy the things that he doesn’t. Repetition exercises like turning the pages of Scripture, and resistance training like denying self, and joy and contentment in running a better race and for a better crown.

DM 22^nd May 2018