April 4

Paul understood fully that the tendency of the flesh is toward ease. He recognized that the inclination of most people is to seek comfort, rest, sleep. He knew he had to subdue this tendency within himself and that others with good intentions to labor diligently in the harvest field require the same discipline if their desire to serve Christ is to be fulfilled.

In I Corinthians 9:26-27 he uses the terminology of an athlete when he says, “I do not run uncertainly, I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary; but I buffet my body and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel, I myself should become a castaway.”

Although salvation is a free gift, purchased by the shed blood of Jesus, Paul recognizes that its maintenance requires diligence on the part of the believer once the gift is received. In Philippians 2:12 he says, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Paul knows that our inclination toward spiritual somnolence can overtake us if we allow ourselves to succumb to it.

Paul knows that if we do not require effort of ourselves in the maintaining of our own salvation and the sharing of our faith with others, we will neglect them and they will recede in importance to us. Although the Holy Spirit can keep our effort alive even when we neglect it, in order for us to thrive as believers, we must exercise to be spiritually fit.