It is Monday morning. This is the Monday after Spring Break. The Monday after I preached through a difficult passage it took the majority of the week for me to get clarity on. It is the Monday morning after the church sponsored a blood drive and my appointment ran an hour and a half late and missing lunch with my family. It is the Monday morning after I had the joyous experience of leading a second grade boy to faith in Christ and talking with him and entire family about baptism right before Sunday School. It is Monday morning after another committee meeting to determine direction about future space issues here at the church. It is the Monday morning after leading our sixth week of Experiencing God and then entertaining twenty-six people in our home after church. It is Monday morning.
I got up early and started my day with the Lord this morning. It was a refreshing time in His presence focusing on His call on our lives to walk by faith. In fact the last thing I laid my eyes on last night before drifting off to sleep was a framed verse located over my night stand with [II Cor 5:7] written on it, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” My devotion this morning was a reiteration of that truth. [Heb 11:6] is the verse I meditated on, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Afterwards I opened up a book of meditations from a renowned theologian and pastor and read a few chapters. Then it was time to cook breakfast, wake the boys hugging them and telling them I loved them, personally get ready, and now here I sit in my office.
Mondays are normally tiring days. Sundays are both exhilarating and draining. It is exhilarating to preach the Word of God and worship with the congregation. It is draining because I preach with my whole self. I preached with all my heart and mind yesterday but still walked away feeling like I failed. I have to trust that God does not allow His word to return void. [Is 55:11] As today starts to unfold, my focus is on spiritually being refreshed, start studying for next Sunday’s message, and rigorously exercising both my mind and my body. Later on today I will go to the Fitness Center for weight training and cardio vascular exercises. What I also want to do today is to challenge my mind with some deep and weighty thoughts to shake off the doldrums and cobwebs from a Monday morning. I do not want to give into the path of least resistance. It might be a Monday morning but that does not mean that I cannot rigorously exercise my mind in contemplation upon God and scripture.
Many Christians lives their whole lives like it is Monday morning. If the Bible is read by these people, it is lightly skimmed over rather than given serious reflection. Weighty theological volumes are discarded in favor of more practical books. I want to be a thinker. I want to wrestle with the word of God in order to be more Christ-like and dive deeper in my understanding of it and Him. I want to fight off the mental lethargy and spiritual apathy with all that I have in me by wearing the harness of discipline by reading the red oak books of theology that have withstood the test of time. I do not want to shrink back from the mentally daunting task of reading books that bend the mind. Just as I exercise my body I must exercise my mind and spirit to keep progressing and advancing in my relationship with the Lord. Yes, even on Monday mornings.
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