“Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.”

My physical trainer challenged me over the summer to stay in the gym working with resistance and weights, even though he wouldn’t be there to train me (he lives in California and we summer in Rhode Island).  Well, I can honestly say, “I tried”.  But, that didn’t get me into the gym consistently.  He then asked me, “Who are you doing this for?”.  Naturally, I said “Me”.  And that was the problem.  If only doing it for myself, I can be as energetic, committed or lazy as I want to be, without any real accountability. I only pay attention to what I want to pay attention.  It’s the same in our work.  If it is only about for us (the selfish) approach, then we will only do what we need to do, without regard for what we need to do for others.  To stay in the shape we need to be in and to be there for others takes the reminding of ourselves that somethings we need to do, just because we are doing it for the good of others.

The author of the book, “Renewal as a Way of Life” (the title itself is a great challenge to us), Richard Lovelace wrote: “Inordinate affection – loving ourselves, or others or things more than God- always bends us out of shape”.  If we are feeling like we are out of spiritual shape today, we may want to look at where and how we are placing our attention and affection with and for God.

Reference: Galatians 6:4 (New Living Translation)