No Spritual flabbiness!

I Timothy 4:6-8
You've been raised on the Message of the faith and have followed sound teaching. Now pass on this counsel to the Christians there, and you'll be a good servant of Jesus. Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion. Exercise daily in God--no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gynmasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.

This is why I enjoy reading The Message. It makes me laugh while I am being taught God's truths. I, too, was raised on the Message of the faith, but I must admit that I haven't always followed sound teaching. I have listened to people who have told me silly stories, and believing those stories caused me to be spiritually flabby. You must admit that is a clever way to word this teaching.
I'm so thankful for the Message of faith that has kept me believing even though I have experienced multiple losses. I used to tell people that my faith hadn't really been challenged because everyone who has died in my family was a believer and they were all older than I was. I thought the death of one of my children might be too much--that I would become jaded and bitter. I pray every day that that doesn't happen to me. Now that I have experienced the loss of one of my children, my faith is stronger than ever. One reason is that I saw God move in Jason's life so clearly in the past couple of years. While he was staying with us last year, I witnessed his adult faith. He reassured me in many ways that his faith was real. He wasn't perfect; none of us are, but he wasn't jaded and bitter which to me are signs of a weak faith. I consider the months he spent with us to be a gift from God. God knew exactly how many days Jason had on this earth, so he knew how difficult it would have been for us if the last time Jason lived in our home was the summer of 1996. That's how long it has been since he lived with us, and that was the summer my mother died. I was so distracted that I can't even remember that summer. My grief today would have been greater if that had been my last time with him in our home.
It is funny to me that all during the time he stayed with us, he and I walked at the track and went to church together. Both of the thing these verses mention, but the important one is the spiritual fitness because it is eternal.