Friday Coffee with PJ

It's a snowy Friday today .... which makes for a great day to sit and enjoy a hot cup of rich and robust coffee. And between you and me, this is my favorite kind of snow storm: the snow is only sticking to the trees, rooftops and grass! Yahoo! Bring it on!  - although from what I have been reading on the meteorological cybersphere, next Tuesday I might be singing a different tune (like SNOW, SNOW, GO AWAY, COME BACK ANOTHER YEAR!). Well, whatever the case may be, go ahead and pour yourself a cup of coffee and join me for a few brief random thoughts. 

1. These will be brief because I just realized (at 8:10 this morning) that I had failed to write this post. My failure to do so stems from a failure to check my todoist app which helps me to organize my tasks. And since I didn't consult it at all yesterday (me bad, very bad!) I totally forgot to write my weekly post. The old adage, "out of sight, out of mind" proved true in this case! But it also proves true in many other cases. Consider our relationship with God. When his word is "out of sight" (i.e. - we are not "in" it on a regular basis), we often live our lives as if He does not exist (i.e. we live as atheists!). Since we live in a culture which is constantly bombarding us with anti-God and humanistic messages, if we don't counter these lies with God's truth, we will not live to the glory of the God who made us and redeemed us! It is vital that we have a plan to interact with God's Word on a DAILY basis! So ... what's YOUR plan? 

2. Most of us have lazy streak in us ... let me rewrite that ... ALL of us have a lazy streak in us. Just as water seeks the path of least resistance, so do we! So when it comes to growing in our faith, this is a huge problem. The Apostle Paul understood this. In his first

letter to young Timothy, he writes, "train yourself for godliness" (1 Timothy 4:7-8). The Greek word translated "train" here is the word, gymnao. It literally means "to train naked." The athletes in the Greco Roman world of the first century would often do just that. Why? To show off their finely chiseled bodies that they had worked so hard to obtain? Perhaps there was a bit of that. But they trained and competed unclothed so that they would be unhindered by their clothing in the pursuit of the prize they were striving to obtain. They were willing to go as far as they had to go in order to win the prize! 

Back to Paul's word of instruction to Timothy ... Paul is telling Timothy that if he wants to be godly, he is going to have to work up a sweat just like the athletes of his day, and do whatever it took (effort wise) to become a godly person! Hmm. Somewhere along the way, we have forgotten the necessity to train ourselves for godliness (or we have simply, in our laziness, chosen to ignore the need to do so!). If you want to make some changes in your life along the lines of training yourself to be godly, here are some good reads for you to consider: 

How to be a Good Christian with Minimal Effort (a piece of satire written by one of my favorite bloggers, Tim Challies). 

Two books by Donald Whitney: Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life and Simplify Your Spiritual Life: Spiritual Disciplines for the Overwhelmed. 

And finally for you men, Disciplines of a Godly Man by Kent Hughes.

I have read all of the above and have found them to be quite profitable! 

Thanks for stopping by . . . 

pj