None of us know how much time we have here on this 
earth. It’s important to live every moment of our lives with intent and purpose.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31
It is so easy to get caught up in the flow of life. Our day to day decisions easily become nothing more than routine and before we know it, we find ourselves noticing weeks and even months slip by us.
Jesus didn’t give his life for us to live in an empty meaningless manner. He said he came to give us life to the full! We need to embrace this life and truly live for His glory.
Before Jesus gave His last breath on the cross he said, “it is finished.” Meaning the debt had been paid in full. Our salvation was bought with a price and the lives we live should reflect that.
A true purpose-filled life glorifies God not just when it is convenient but in every possible way through all we do. Our true and proper worship is to fully surrender. That means to surrender of our body, mind, and spirit.
Through my walk with Jesus, I have found discipline come through proper training in all aspects of my life. The beautiful thing about discipline is that when cultivated in just one area of our lives, it becomes easily applicable to all areas.
Proper training involves intent and purpose. We need to have goals and a reason behind what we are doing. As Christians, our purpose should always be to bring glory to God. Here is how we can glorify His name and train with purpose.
How To Train With Purpose
Physical Training
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Physical training may be one of the hardest aspects of our lives to get into check. With all of the choices of delicious foods and how easy it is to just recline on the couch after a hard day of work, it can be a daunting task.
Before I surrendered my life to Jesus not only did I suffer from anxiety and depression, but I was also addicted to alcohol, cigarettes, and food. I was turning to everything I could find in within the world to relieve the pain I felt inside.
Not only did none of these things fulfill the emptiness I had, I also, to put it plainly, got fat. At my highest point, I was 200 pounds. To put that into perspective, when I played college soccer I only weighed about 150.
After surrendering my life over to Jesus, I began to zealously seek after Him in His word and through prayer. I was cured instantly of my addictions and I knew to be effective for the Kingdom for years to come, I needed to get my health in check.
I started working out and changed my diet around and successfully went from an overweight, out of shape 200 pounds to a healthy athletic 155 pounds in just the first year. Since then I have not stopped my physical training and I am even healthier and more muscular at 170 pounds.
I still to this day do it all for God’s glory so that for years to come I can be capable of proclaiming His name wherever He leads me. Through purposeful training and choosing to glorify God through the food I choose to put in my body, I am healthier, stronger, and more active than I thought I could ever be.
Mental Training
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2
From birth, we have been programmed through the media, school, and culture to believe deceptive lies about the reality of the world. The world tells us that we should indulge in sin because this life is the only one we get so we should do whatever we can now to satisfy our desires.
Most of us spend the majority of our lives believing this lie to be true when on the inside we are left feeling hollow, empty, and lonely. If the things in this world really bring the happiness that they promise, why is it that over 300 million people suffer from depression?
The truth is, this world can’t satisfy the desires of our heart. Yet without hope in anything else, we foolishly give ourselves over to the world time and time again only to be let down.
In Romans, we read that we should not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This mind renewal is only possible through the word of God. We have been indoctrinated our entire lives with lies which can only be exposed through truth.
Just like physical training, we need to purposely train our minds. The best way we can do this is through prayer and reading the word. Just like you would put together a training schedule for working out do the same for training in the word.
The Bible app has some awesome reading plans you can follow or my personal favorite is the read scripture app. Not only does the read scripture app let you set up a daily reading plan, but it also has some really awesome videos that go along with it to help you understand the reading fully.
I would personally recommend starting with the New Testament and if it is your first time reading start with the gospel of John. As you read, pray and just ask Jesus to reveal himself to you through his word!
Spiritual Training
“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8
The most important training we can do is spiritual training. Our ultimate hope is in eternity with our Lord and Savior.
As the scripture above shows not only is spiritual training useful for this life, but also in the one to come! This training is accomplished through remaining in Christ and bearing fruit that will last.
The works we do come through our faith in Jesus Christ, but so many people “quench” the spirit leaving themselves ineffective and unproductive in their knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is where the training comes in. We need to learn to put off the old self and fully put on the new. When we feel the spirit leading us, we can’t just ignore it, we need to follow it. As we do the fruit will increase.
It can be hard at first to hear that still small voice, but as we learn to quiet the world around us we can truly glorify God through all we do.
If we take steps to just become disciplined in one of these aspects of our lives, we can apply that discipline powerfully and effectively towards the others. This becomes very powerful as each aspect strengthens, the others follow suit.
When we purposely train our body, mind, and spirit for godly work, we gain a boldness and zeal like never before.
For me personally, every day I focus intently on glorifying God and doing all I can for the Kingdom. The more we grow in our salvation, the more we can effectively share the light of Jesus with those around us and show them that eternal life in His name starts now! The life we live here in the body is nothing compared to the glorious riches of our inheritance to come!