A warm-up is a good thing.
You warm your car up on a cold morning before you hop in to go to work. You warm it up for two reasons. One, you don’t want freeze to death when you get in it. Two, your engine will perform more efficiently if it is warm. It will even perform better on hot days if it is warmed up first.
The same is true with you. A warm-up is a good thing for you.
Your morning should start with a spiritual warm-up. Before you rush off to work, you should warm up spiritually. Before you hit the rat race of your day, warm-up. The absolute best time to warm-up is before anyone else in your house wakes up. Before the kids are hustled out of bed for school, before your spouse wakes up, before you turn on the morning news, before you switch on your favorite music, you should warm-up spiritually.
When you warm-up spiritually, you clear the residual night fog and grogginess. It’s a time to center yourself in Christ, reminding yourself who you are and whose you are. You want everyone to see Christ in you. A spiritual warm-up focuses you on allowing the fruits of the spirit to flow from your life. It warms you up as Christian.
You also perform better once you have warmed up in Christ. You are more effective as a Christian. You will behave more efficiently. Warming up first thing in the morning reminds you that you are more than the list of tasks you have to complete today. It reminds you that you are more than your job, career, or anything else the world tells you that you are. A warm-up preps you to engage the world in a Christian spirit.
The Christian Fast Daily Warm-Up
So, how do you do a spiritual warm-up without having to spend time reading a disciple study-book, reading your Bible for thirty minutes, or reading your denominations daily prayerbook?
Before I answer, hear me clearly: reading a study-guide, your Bible, or the Daily Bread can be super helpful. I encourage everyone to follow those practices if they have time first thing in the morning.
The reality is, whether I approve of it or not, many people do good to get out of bed, get the kids the school, and arrive at the office on time. Some people need an easy, quick, warm-up. Here is one for you:
First, before you go to bed, set your alarm five minutes earlier. Don’t worry. You can do it. You can give up five minutes earlier.
After the alarm wakes you up, stumble out of bed and to the bathroom. Be careful not to trip over the dog. Take care of the customary morning business if you know what I mean.
Go to the sink and wash your face. As you wash your face, remind yourself that your sins are washed away. You are clean.
Look in the mirror and remind yourself you are a child a God.
As you see yourself in the mirror, as a child of God, tell yourself you want others to see that same cleansed child of God.
Close your eyes, holding the sink counter might be helpful, see yourself waking your children, family, or anyone else applicable, while engaging them in and with God’s spirit. See yourself driving to work like a Christian. Visualize yourself engaging your co-workers with gentleness and kindness. If you have a difficult task before you that day, envision God guiding every step.
Now take a deep breath. Thank God. You’re ready. Time to get the day started.
This Fast Daily Christian Warm-up may seem simple.
Many Christians, however, do not give God a thought in the morning. From the time the alarm goes off, it’s off to the daily grind. Yell at the kids. Curse the drivers in front of you. Anger and frustration at the job. Come home too tired to do anything spiritual. So, they wind up doing nothing.
Five minutes first thing in the morning, reminding themselves they belong to God is a big step. Simple? Sure. But more than they did before.
Other people spend a lot of time reading about faith but never see themselves living that faith. They read their Bible, acknowledge its value, but never picture how that faith can change their day. A simple discipline of visualizing living out who they say they are, can make a world of difference.
Neither of the above cases may be you. You may follow a morning ritual and a daily devotional every day. You may allow the spirit to guide every step of your day. Super! Want to mix it up or try something new? Give the Christian Fast Daily Warm-Up a try.
