1 Timothy 4: 7-16 exercise unto godliness

Exercise unto godliness.

My heart was breaking. I had arisen at 5:30 so that I could get my three mile run in before waking the children for their school day. As I quietly slipped from the house, my eleven year old fifth grader followed me to the front  door and begged me to take her.

 She cried and pleaded. “Please Mommy, Let me come. I will keep up you will see. I am fast.”

I turned to hug her, gave her a squeeze, and trotted off to find my rhythm as I began my loop through the neighborhood. I was well into the last leg of my run before the image of her sad face pressed up to our glass door left me. It tugged at my heart and slowed my race. Little did I know that the day would come when she would run and win many a race. She would win state titles and break records. She was fast and she knew it. But the race does not always go to the swiftest nor he who exercises the most or the hardest.  Sometimes it is more about the heart of discipline.

Paul was an older man who had lived a hard life. He spoke often of the pain in his side and other ailments that burdened him. Timothy was a younger man. I presume he was an athlete who ran races. ( I have run a good race 2 Timothy 4:7) The letters that Paul writes to Timothy reflect this difference in age.   

In my youth and as a mother of a large family,  I ran three  miles almost every day. It refreshed my soul, bridled my energy, and balanced my hormonal surges. Exercise helped me maintain my strength, my posture, my endurance, my health, and my happiness. I value my ability to exercise daily and strike a balance to my day. But exercise can be like a drug. That high you get when you hit your first “wall”, begins to stretch itself out farther and farther from your goal. Your times get faster, your distances longer, and before you know it you are addicted to the routine of training. It overshadows all other areas of your life.

I wonder if Timothy didn’t train hard for  races. Paul often uses images of racing when he writes Timothy. In preparing for this essay, I found an excellent (really excellent) sermon on this. It called Running the Race of Faith and its from a 1995 sermon from a pastor in Massachusetts. It’s worth the read, especially if you enjoy running. 

Paul wants us to understand that while exercise is good for the body and the soul, the body will wear out. The time will come when you will not be able to use your hips, your knees, or your feet. 

Unlike the body, your soul does not wear out. It lives eternally. But like your body, you can train your soul to run in a race of godliness.  “Godliness profiteth unto all things.” Paul is trying to help Timothy understand that while exercise is good, moderation is better, and the exercise of the spiritual matters is the best use of your time. Why? Because it will bring the greatest eternal rewards.

  Just like exercise, our faith needs to work hard. It should accept the reproach from our lack of faith and trust in the Living God.  Faith should not be despised because of youth (inexperience) but should be an example to all. 
We can be an example by speaking God's word, by keeping our conversations pure and clean, by giving charity to others, sharing a good spirit, building our faith, and showing forth the purity of our soul and of our purpose. 


Faith like exercise must be worked at. We must read God's word daily. Give a good spirit to others daily, keep our hearts and minds pure daily, and endure the race daily. 


I am very proud of my young daughter who saw the joy that the exercise of her body would bring, but I am even greater to realize that the she also understands the greater eternal joy that the exercise of her faith will bring. 

no cause for unbelief (Helaman 14: 20-39)

"No cause for unbelief "

Life doesn't always turn out the way we would like.

We work hard to build lives that offer financial success. But the financial world is, like the relatively new science of economics describes as unstable as the human psyche that created it.

We work hard to build lives that bring physical stability. But like the flowers that bloom and then fade away in the afternoon sun, our bodies turn tide against us.

We work hard to build lives that bring social security. But friends that we network with change, families move away, jobs end and the politics that frame our standards and laws ebb and swell with the changing mood of the masses.

So where do we go to build an infrastructure of sureness? To whom do we turn?

In my life I have had many miracles. I have had many reasons that I could say "I have no cause for unbelief." With an unseen hand my God has directed my paths and the paths of my children. He has loved me and given me great reason for rejoicing.

As I thought of these verses I realized I could not think of one instance or one occurrence that spoke louder than another. Instead I have had many that have helped my faith wax strong. As I have dipped my candle into the words, the counsel and the direction of wisdom's call, my inner candle of faith has waxed stronger.

I have never felt the earth move under my feet or know the fear of walls falling around me, but I have the structure of my life pulled out from under me more than once only to find that my faith has steadied me.

I have never felt the wind of a tempest blow me down or watch it carry away every earthly possession, but I have had angry and bitter winds of corporate jealousy, greed, and competition threaten to destroy all that my family represented, only to find that I was carried by God's love through a storm so fierce that I would not have survived without Him.

I have never seen an angry volcano explode and spew hot lava or ash over my world, but I have known the fear that angry words bring, the aftermath of angry emotions, and the peace that forgiveness forges as well as the fertile soil that comes from understanding.

I have never seen a mountain laid low or a hurricane blow its mighty wrath upon the land, but I have seen the hand of God as it steered my life on a course that would make it possible to heal my child's birth defects in such a way that she would not only be able to live a normal life, but would do so with grace and most importantly without a sense of victimization.

My trials are not over. Life isn't something we orchestrate as you would a physical structure. It is much more fragile. Life requires faith in energy that lives within the materials we use to build the structure. The elemental source of life itself.
We call Him God. He is the one that keeps the rocks from falling on us during a catastrophe (either physical or spiritual). He is the one who loves us beyond our greatest comprehension. All he requires is that we understand... we "have no cause for unbelief."

Words and Phrases

vs 20 in that day... From the time Christ dies there begins a time of 3 days where there is no light. This could have been because of an eclipse, or a volcano explosion which would block the light from the sky, or ???

vs 25 graves shall be opened - a first resurrection for those who died before the Savior.

vs 27 a darkness - for three days. This darkness was like no other. The closest I could think of would be like going into a cave and turning out your flashlight.

vs 28 to the intent - might believe.. to the intent no cause for unbelief. So in other words.. those that believe will have great cause to believe... so great will be the signs and wonders that will be predicted and known beforehand.. and also the miracles of those who will be saved because of their faith and obedience..

vs 29 a righteous judgement - those who will not believe will be judge according to just judgments.

vs 30 perishes unto himself - those who do not believe .. believe in themselves. and therefor they will perish unto himself. There is not reward in not believing in the Savior Jesus Christ. You are alone. You have no community, no help, no truth.

vs 31..choose life or death - this is not about a physical life, but rather a spiritual life. When we choose eternal life, we gain an understanding of what it means to live. All of the physical turmoil around us cannot distract us from our faith in Christ.

We have no reason.. no cause for unbelief.

Directions

1 Nephi 16

Directions

I recently gave to my husband “a ball of curious workmanship” to help him find his way while he drives in our new city. We call the ball a Garmin. Supposedly it will tell me (speak) where I should go, and prevent me from getting lost. It works on “faith” in that I have to believe that it knows what it is doing. But as we found out, like all things that work on the faith of man’s intellect it has its limitations.

Following directions is not always easy. I am not programmed like a robot, or like a homing pigeon to follow directions explicitly or to return home regardless of the circumstances. God programmed me with the power of choice. The spiritual gift of choice helps me navigate with a greater gift of “faith” and learn to rely on this many other gifts. The key is learning to understand the power of the choice within me.

Traveling with a Garmin can make my trip less stressful. All I need to do is plug in where I want to go and it will direct me there. A few key things to recognize:

a. I have to know where I want to go b. It does not know all things. It will not steer me clear of danger or remind me of when I need gas etc.. C. It relies on me to make the decisions; it is only as useful as I am able to follow the directions.

The Lord gave Lehi a “ball of curious workmanship”, called the Liahona. Because it came as a gift from God (it was not engineered by man) it had a few different characteristics: a. You didn’t have to know explicitly where you needed to go you only had to want to go where the Lord led you b. It was programmed to respond to faith and obedience. C. It did know all things and would answer based on your faith steering you clear of danger or refusing to work during periods of no faith. D. Like the Garmin it relied on you to decide (as to weather to be obedient and faithful but unlike the Garmin it worked not on scientific coordination but rather on faith in a higher power. So that when you learn to ask the right questions, it will steer you in the right direction.

Life is a bit like this chapter in Nephi. I can’t always predict the difficulties that I will encounter. Nephi broke his bow. Everyone was hungry. Everyone was tired. Everyone was lonely for Jerusalem. This led to everyone being angry. Nephi surveyed his situation and decided to improvise with what he had and rely on God to direct him to the food. (I don’t think a Garmin would do that).

God knows that I will have difficulties. He knows that life will not always turn out the way I plan or hope for. The joy is not in receiving what I want, but in learning what I have within me to give. The journey through the wilderness helps me discover this. The journey that is led (not by a Garmin) but by faith in God’s power to lead me where I need to be is the journey that will bless me with growth and joy.

Words and Phrases

(Vs. 2) according to the truth – Directions tell the truth of how to fix things, how to play a game, how to install something, how to put something together. The creator writes them.

(Vs 3) hard things – Once when after our family had purchased a new wash machine, we tried to put it together. After (not following directions) it didn’t work, those of us who were putting it together were frustrated and said a few hard things. The truth was we had not read the directions. One of us found the directions and discovered we had not removed a critical packaging piece. Sometimes hard things are necessary to get us to listen and follow directions.

(Vs. 8) blessed of the Lord exceedingly – I think if we all consider our circumstances. If we all realize where we live, how we live and what we get to do on a daily basis we might begin to believe we are “blessed in many ways”.

(Vs. 11) Whatsoever things we should carry into the wilderness – What would I take? I think I would take the directions on how to live so that I could receive instruction. Nephi did this when they went back for the brass plates. I think I would also take something to eat, sleep, and find food with. As well as being able to grow food. Mostly I would not want to be alone (with my own intelligence) but would want to have God’s wisdom at my disposal.

(Vs. 16) we did follow the directions – a reminder of the need for all of us to look to the plan… to follow the directions. To take a daily, a weekly, a monthly reminder to check back and see if we are indeed following the directions with faith.

(Vs. 18) break my bow – a reminder that even when we do all that is right, sometimes life happens. We might break our bow, our hammer, our stove, our washing machine, but we learn to use our intelligence and our faith together. We learn what we are capable of doing and we learn that together with God we can stop complaining and perish not.

(Vs. 24) he did ⁱnquire of the Lord, - it takes humility to inquire of the Lord. It often takes words to humble us. We go to church to hear the words that we need to learn to ask God.

(Vs. 28) work according to the ^faith and diligence and heed - the Liahona worked not just by faith, but also by diligence and heed. To heed something is to pay attention to it. To listen to it. To focus on it. To be diligent is to follow through and continue forward no matter how many distractions might plague you.

The interesting thing about a Garmin is that if I am too diligent in listening to it, I might run out of gas. (This almost happened to me on a recent trip). If I heed it too much I might find myself on a closed street, a blocked road, or in a lake( in a land where there is changed landscape). No amount of faith in this “curious ball” will save me from destruction. It can also become annoying when you make a “right” choice and turn your car around. It will continually talk to you and tell you to turn left, turn right, etc. Eventually I turn its voice off.

I have a “curious ball” of faith within me. It is called the Holy Ghost. It works with faith and will direct me and lead me to where God will have me go. I need only learn to heed its voice. I need to learn how to follow directions and live by faith.