Hebrews 12:4-13

Because of pain experienced in my lower back for many years, my doctor recommended going to the chiropractor.  I decided to go to one in New Bern because of an Emmaus connection.  After assessment and adjustments, the doctor gave me exercises to do so that the adjustments would become more permanent and I wouldn’t have to visit her as often.  Upon my weekly visits, she could tell when I was doing the exercises and when I wasn’t.  She could also tell when I was working and when I was off from work because of the severity of the misalignment.  

Our Christian life is much like our spine.  Our lives are misaligned by sin.  We go to God in confession and repentance.  God realigns us to a life that glorifies him.  But when we don’t put into practice the exercises he has given us to do (prayer, bible study, worship, Christian fellowship and fasting), our lives can fall back out of alignment, back into sin.  When we practice those means of grace, our lives are more likely to remain in alignment.   If, after repentance, we continue to live in the sin that we repented of in the first place, our lives fall back out of alignment; we fall away from God.

The writer of Hebrews encourages his readers to “strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.”  Brothers and sisters, do not lose heart in practicing the disciplines or exercises that God has given us to do.  They will help us to endure any hardship that may come our way; we will be more aligned with the mind of God and able to be an encouragement to others.

--Melissa Vincent