It’s about that time of year when people start losing steam on their New Year’s resolutions to get in shape. (Which is true, of course, until April rolls around and everyone realizes a bit too late that bathing suit season is around the corner.) For me, I was so tired from holiday feasting that I skipped the resolutions entirely and kept on with hibernation mode, hoping to keep as warm as possible during this beastly winter.

The truth is, I know I would benefit much more if I did exercise. My problem is that I’m to the point where I’ve sat around for so long, when I do finally work out I’ll get that I-hurt-in-muscles-I-didn’t-even-know-I-had kind of pain. (I had several pieces of pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving that latched onto my thighs and are still clinging on for dear life.) I could conceivably not ever work out and avoid the pain, but there are serious health tradeoffs if I did. My own laziness and ideas about comfort would keep me from actually being healthy.

In John 15:2 Jesus says, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit [my Father] takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Thankfully, my heavenly Father works to keep me healthy, even when I would choose to be lazy to my own destruction. God knows where I’m not using faith muscles and, if I’m at least willing to grow in him, he will work them for me to keep me from wasting away. Is it painful? Yes, in places I didn’t even know I could hurt. But am I healthier for it?  Definitely.

Proverbs 3:11-12
“My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”