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I Discipline My Body through Handling Once?



This morning I caught a glimpse of why our Church Sundays go the way they do, and I caught a glimpse of why we put such a high emphasis on the Bible. Both glimpses relate back to Nehemiah 8:1-9. There the people are shown preparing for the reading of the Law by worshiping. They led to getting their hearts right by God, preparing to hear His Word. Once the word was read they were moved to tears. After this moment, because of their strict adherence to the Word of God, the exiled-now-returned Jews became known as the People of the Book. They were born again!

I had another glimpse this morning when about to leave my clothes on the floor in the closet and mark an email unread; both situations to come back to it later. I was prompted with: "handle it once", a phrase that Jess likes to say to hearken to efficiency and time saving. I wondered if this emphasis was from God; I also was remembering the scripture "I discipline my body" (1 Cor 9:27) at the same time. In the moment I brushed it off as a secular persuasion: handle it once is merely a remedy for efficiency. But, as I prayed, I sensed that good practice, good human discipline is of God, not apart from Him. That is, "I discipline my body" includes "handle it once". The hesitancy in accepting this connection is that I adopt "handle it once" as a secular means of efficiency, and not as a means of disciplining my body to give the Spirit opportunity to give guidance over my flesh.

Lord Jesus, as I stop to think about the ways I wrongly think, I find that the wrongs in my head are countless. But who's counting? I pray that I would indeed discipline my body today, so that I may be able to handle it every time in service of You!

In Jesus Name,

Amen

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