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Core Training

I’ve been discussing core values of youth ministry this summer with my youth. At the beginning of the summer I used the picture of Core Training. The picture in my head was one of exercise and training. The exercise gurus will talk about having a strong core, referring to the area around your mid-section and back. I’m told that many injuries can be avoided if you have strong core muscles.

In fact, I have been doing some core training physically this summer with my wife. She found a workout video that is supposed to work out everything at the same time and leave you feeling ripped. We’ve been waking up at 6am 3-4 times a week this summer to do these videos. I don’t wake up at 6am because I want to. I don’t do so because it feels good. I do it because I am rules oriented. I need the exercise and this is the only time it will happen. I want strong core muscles. So I follow the ‘rules’. I exercise and try to watch what I eat if by that you mean showing my kids how many more cookies i can eat than them. The ‘rules’ say that if I do these 2 things, I will be in good shape.

But Core Training for spiritual reasons is totally different. Imagine that I talked the same way about spiritual training. ‘I wake up at 6am 3-4 times a week with Jesus and we work on my spiritual muscles; faith, hope, love. I don’t wake up at 6am because I want to. I don’t do so because it feels good. I do it because I am rules oriented. I need the exercise and this is the only time it will happen.’

Will this type of attitude please God? Faith is more heart knowledge than head knowledge. But often times, we see head knowledge taking the lead as we learn what is right and wrong for Christians. As humans, we’re very good about following rules, or at least pointing out when others don’t follow rules.

But God is more concerned with our hearts. That’s why Jesus said to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Matthew 22:37). It is also why Isaiah prophesied “these people…honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13). God desires to have right action. But He is really more concerned with right motive. I’m not throwing out the rules. I am saying that you should be more concerned with loving God, truly loving God. Loving God involves getting to know Him.

I am re-reading a book by Mike Yaconelli called The Core Realities of Youth Ministry (more on this book tomorrow). In the book, Mike is talking about the value of intimacy and asks us to imagine a married couple. Imagine that they had a great wedding day, but after that they stopped doing anything together. When anyone questions them about their relationship, they just point out their wedding pictures and say that is how they know they have a good relationship. Would we say they had a strong marriage?

We do the same thing spiritually. So many people come to Jesus and have a conversion experience. But then they don’t spend any time with Jesus. When anyone questions them about their relationship with God, they point back to a time when they were 5 or 6 or 12 and say that is proof they are a Christian. But would we say they have a strong relationship with God?

How do you know you've been close with God recently?
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