Into Practice 

A long time ago I belonged to a gym which was home to a wide variety of colourful characters. It was very much an old-school, heavy iron type of gym where testosterone filled the air and probably some of its synthetic derivatives filled a few gym bags…

One of the more unusual characters who spent a short time there was a somewhat kooky-looking young guy who did very little in the way of lifting weights but spent a lot of time sitting on a bench observing everyone else. He came to be known as “the watcher” and, later, “Rolex” (because “all he does is watches”).

Eventually “Rolex” drifted away – unchanged by his time on the gym and his (ahem) studies.

Over a longer time than I care to remember, I’ve enjoyed physical exercise and I’ve noticed that some of the things that apply to physical fitness also apply to spiritual development.

You can know the theory, want to change, have role models, be enthusiastic even, but nothing changes until you actually put all of that into practice.
Jesus said: 

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”  (Luke chapter 6, verses 46 to 49)

Spiritually speaking, how “well built” are you? I want to encourage you to go to it and put into practice Jesus’s teaching today. You can choose to be like “Rolex” of course… but time’s a-ticking for all of us.