Training in Christ

After working SO hard, week before last, I could hardly wait for some well deserved rest. I'd been sick all week, yet worked out through it all. I imagined myself staying in my jammies and resting all weekend.

Didn't happen.

And I took that so very well, nary a blip on the screen, so to speak.

Not!!!

I was so frustrated when I realized that my plans, key word there is "my" by the way, were not going to be realized, after all I "deserved" it after a week of hard work. I went to God about my irritation and He quickly reminded me of my initial goal in my efforts to lose weight and get healthy. My goal was not to lose weight. My was to be complete in Christ.

James 1:2-4 says that when trials test our faith, it will produce endurance and if we endure the result will be that we will become perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But it was the definition of "complete" that captured my heart and mind.

"To become who we were intended to be (in Christ) and serve our destined purpose."

That is what I want with all of my heart, and that is my true goal in all of this physical effort. And last Saturday, as I sat talking to my Lord, He reminded me that I was being trained to become "complete" and that being complete was not just improving my physical self, but my heart, mind and body. He seemed to speak into my heart, "Debbie, your training to be complete is never finished. You will never get a "day off" from training in being complete in Christ. This week you worked on your physical body, this weekend, we will train your heart to deny your self, take up your cross and follow Me."

Training, you see, is for the entire person. For years I've ignored the physical and invested myself in the spiritual, but to be complete in Christ, I must let Him train my entire self.

I spent the weekend. hearing His voice, and obeying His words. I invested myself, not in rest, but in serving others and doing His will, not mine.