2. As a little kid, whenever we would go to Grandma's, my grandfather would almost always welcome me with a "dutch rub," vigorously rubbing his knuckles across the top of my head (for an interesting take on where this expression originated, click here). Fast forward from 1960 to 2016 and it's deja vu! When the little kids come to my house (a.k.a. "Grammy's), they sometimes ask me to give them a dutch rub! What goes around comes around! Having just written this, it is hard for me to believe that I am now the grandfather giving dutch rubs to his grandkids! Where has the time gone? In Psalm 90, Moses writes about the brevity of life. He states that the years of our lives "are soon gone and we fly away (Psalm 90:10). He then offers up this prayer:
"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom" (v. 12).
Friends, no matter what your age is right now, your earthly journey will sooner (rather than later) be done. And when that time arrives when you are gone, what will remain of your life? A big house? A fancy car? A large bank account? Or will you leave behind a number of people whose lives were enriched by yours? Make the prayer of Moses your prayer. You (and those around you) will be better for it! Life is short and passes quickly. Don't waste it!
3. By the time lunch time rolls around on Sunday, I am ... to put it mildly ... just a bit tired. So my agenda for most Sunday afternoons contains one word, "chill!" This time of year, one of the ways I enjoy chillin ... is to grab the tv remote, plop down in my favorite recliner, and with a glass of iced tea or a cup of coffee at my side, turn on the television and find the channel airing the weekend PGA event (for all you non golfers, PGA stands for Professional Golf Association). For some odd reason (and maybe it's
not all that odd!) I find watching a bunch of grown men running around a golf course, trying to get a little white ball into a slightly larger hole to be quite relaxing! And as I watch some of these guys hit the ball one or two hundred yards and land it within a few feet of the pin ... I find myself thinking, "Man, I wish I could do that!" But .. really? These guys just don't grab their clubs for the weekend and go golfing. They are on the golf course, driving range, putting green for hours and hours and days and days on end, honing their skills so they can play at the professional level. So after I go through that reality check, I settle back down to just enjoying what they are able to do!
Now ... all that said ... if they are going to work that hard at perfecting their golf game ... how much harder should we be working at growing in godliness? In his first letter to his young mentee, Timothy, the Apostle Paul wrote these words. "Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:7-8). What is interesting here is that the Greek word Paul uses (which the ESV translates as "train) is the Greek word from which we get the English words, gymnasium and gymnastics. It literally means "to train naked" (athletes in the Graeco Roman world would often do this so that they would not be hindered in any way by any article of clothing). Paul is stressing to young Timothy (and by extension us as well) that just as athletes sweat in a gym in order to prepare for competition ... so we need to sweat spiritually, if we are to become the godly men and women that God desires we become. How can we do this? Simply ... make it a priority to practice the various spiritual disciplines that are available to us ... and as we do, we will grow! And that, my friend will benefit us both now in this life ... and later in the life to come! (For some help with spiritual disciplines, check out some sample chapters from some of Don Whitney's VERY helpful books on the topic).
Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj
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