Today's Devotional

 

 March 3, 2009

                                                                                                                     

Subject:  A Synergistic Faith 

1 Thessalonians 5:23 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

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I'd been into weightlifting and bodybuilding for a lot of years when I realized one day that I received much more benefit when I worked out all of my body instead of just the parts that "I" thought needed work.  What I realized is that there are auxiliary muscles that are developed in the legs, even when you are working the back and there are muscles getting developed in the chest, even when you are working the arms.  I realized that this is true for every body part because the body is interconnected.  

This is also true for our personal faith.  Sometimes we try to focus on the areas of our lives that we think are spiritually deficient.  "If I can just increase my prayer life, then I can fix my addiction to ..........."  While prayer is definitely a great discipline that we should all adhere to, God also wants us reading and studying His word and communing with other believers and spending time worshipping Him and giving to Him and others and...there are lots of spiritual muscles to be exercised and they all work best "synergistically."

God sanctifies us "wholly."  That means that we are complete in Him, however that verse goes on to pray that our whole spirit and body be "blameless" until Christ comes back.  That requires a "synergistic faith."  A synergistic faith exercises all of the spiritual disciplines necessary to create a well-developed believer in Christ.  

Today, think about how you are exercising your faith.  Are all of your "muscles" getting a work out?          

Carlen