It's Kind of Like...

I was reading this morning about the frustration that doctors often feel when trying to get their patients to understand the importance of exercise and I realized how much doctors and pastors have in common on this point.

The doctor's frustration is kind of like a pastor's burden for his congregation.

Your doctor feels like a broken record. He’s sick and tired of telling you
how important exercise is to your health because YOU DON’T LISTEN.

He’s sick of explaining how so many of your health problems will improve or
even disappear as the result of a consistent exercise program.

He’s tired of tallying your controllable risk factors which include
physical inactivity and obesity.

So why does he continue to give you the same lecture?

Because he’s seen exercise change lives!

He’s even seen exercise save lives!

So it is with the pastor who is so often not heard when he implores his brothers and sisters in Christ to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called [spiritual exercise], with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:1-3).

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25). Again, spiritual exercise.

Why? Because lives are changed! And more than that, God is glorified!