Do you have a bucket list of things you want to do before you leave this earth? My list is replete with places I want to see, adventures I want to take, and challenges I want to conquer. I love adding items to my list, and I especially love checking items off! I made one such checkmark last weekend when I ran my first marathon.
Running a marathon is something I have wanted to do for a long time, and it took six months of training to get ready for it. I trained on beautiful days and rainy days, when it was hot and when it was cold, up grueling ascents and down blissful descents. While I certainly did not break any records when I crossed the finish line in Nashville last weekend, I felt adequately prepared for the course thanks to the training plan I had followed.
When I began to feel tired, I told myself, “Trust your training.” When I hit the infamous wall after 20 miles, I reminded myself, “Trust your training.” When I faced a cruel hill right before the finish line, I whispered through gritted teeth, “Trust your training.” I knew I had trained well, so I knew I could finish well.
In the Bible, Paul speaks of the temporal value of physical training and then points us to the infinite value of spiritual training when he says, “train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:7b-8). This analogy shows us that godliness involves effort. It is not something that just happens. We must train for it, and we can trust our training because we are told it will result in an imperishable reward (1 Corinthians 9:25).
Elsewhere in Scripture, Paul tells Timothy, “continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed” (2 Timothy 3:14). We show that we trust our training when we press on. What has our training taught us to believe? Are we pressing on? Are we daily immersing ourselves in words of the Bible? Are we praying without ceasing? Are we training in such a way that we can trust our training?
Parents often find comfort in the the familiar verse, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). We can rest in that hope only if we have actually taken the time to train our children in the way they should go. Are we teaching our children the truths of Scripture? Are we praying with our children? Are we modeling godly behaviors for our children? Are we training them in such a way that we can trust our training?
Just like training for a marathon, training for godliness will involve good and bad days, hard days and easy days, uphills and downhills. We train in order to look more like Christ. When everything is going well, trust your training. When you fall on hard times, trust your training. When you are in the face of temptation, trust your training. Your spiritual training is not backed by some random plan you found on the internet like my marathon training plan. It’s backed by the God who made you and loves you and works all things together for your good if you love him and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). Trust your training.
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