Jesus gym.

What if it IS True? Blog

Discovering, wrestling with, and trying like crazy to live Gospel virtue.

04/30/14

John 3:16-21

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Many of us, especially those with protestant roots like myself, are very familiar with John 3:16. It's the go to, stand alone, bible verse that many individuals can quote. What's tougher is the following verses we see here. It's easy to think you believe in Jesus, but it's kind of like believing in a good diet and working out. Most of us would agree that those are good if not essential. However, how many of us who “believe” in that lifestyle actually live it?

I think faith is a lot like working out. Just like the gym is always there so is Jesus. The treadmill can do you absolutely no good until you get on it. Free weights do nothing for you until you pick them up and interact with them. All of this is true of our faith life as well. God has given us a free gym membership. We can work out as often and as intensely as we want. If we leave the gym without working up a sweat we've probably done very little to move toward the light as described in the passage.

Our wickedness may not look that wicked to us. We might just be spiritual couch potatoes. It's easy to think that just because you're not that good that you're not so bad. When we compare ourselves against the laws of averages we may find we're above average, but does that really bring us out of darkness. Jesus wants us to try. He wants us to live in his truth with a sincere belief in him that will ultimately look like something in our lives. We've talked a lot in these blogs about the discipline of virtue. It has to be practiced and conditioned in our lives. Look at Jesus as your personal trainer. His gym is the light, your heart is the dark. Have a great workout!

Good luck and God bless,

Leo Brown