by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea

I’m pondering all the calories I’ve burned so far today. About four of them probably. Total. Maybe five if you count that one extra-fierce stretch as I was getting up from my desk. I’m going to blame the whole thing on being a writer with too many deadlines, and all those deadlines landing on the same day. Yes, thank you, I’ll blame the writing. Of course the truth is, I’ve had more than one or two stretches with consecutive days of unimpressive activity levels. A different kind of stretch, but a similar five-calorie burn. You know that material they use to make flame resistant clothes? I think maybe my calories are made of that.

I do remember one time I had a really impressive calorie burn though. It was on my exercise bike. We were having company and the stationary bike made the family room look cluttered. So I burned that impressive number of calories, not exactly on the bike, but (Are you ready for this?) moving the thing into the basement storage. No kidding, I had sore muscles for a week. It was the best workout I’d ever had “on” that expensive exercise bike.

I met a family many years ago who seemed to have similar thinking when it came to the bible. They had the biggest, fattest, fanciest bible I’d ever seen. Pearly whites and shiny golds—the works. And, not judging here, but from what they told me, that’s where it lived. All the time. I can’t imagine that expensive, beautiful bible ever built any real spiritual muscle.

When Paul talks about the armor of God in Ephesians 6, he tells us to “take” the word of God (verse 17). Take it. Not just buy it. Not simply heft it up onto a shelf for some kind of spiritual protection. But to take it. Not even just skimming through a few pages now and then. No, we’re to take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (ESV). We’re to wield it. Can you imagine a soldier finding the sharpest, shiniest sword, then laying it aside on a nice shelf and marching into battle ready to bop the enemy with an empty sheath?

In Psalm 119:45 and 48, the psalmist says, “I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts. I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes” (ESV). Walking in a wide place speaks to the freedom found in trusting His word. Lifting hands toward the commandments we love? That’s got to be one of the best stretches ever.

It inspires me all the more to stretch myself. That better stretch. To take up and use God’s word—really use it—and let it continually be at the center of how I think and who I’m becoming.

Taking His word and making it part of who we are really does help us fulfill His calling. It leads to victory in our battles. It makes sense to lean into it every day. That’s exercising good judgment. And surely I can at least exercise that more, right?

Rhonda Rhea is an award-winning humor columnist for great magazines such as HomeLife, Leading Hearts, The Pathway, and many more. She is the author of 19 books, including the popular romantic comedies co-authored with her daughter Kaley Rhea, Off-Script & Over-Caffeinated and Turtles in the Road. Rhonda and Kaley have also teamed up with Bridges TV host Monica Schmelter for the Messy to Meaningful books and TV projects. Along with Beth Duewel, Rhonda writes the Fix Her Upper series, and she also co-authored Unruffled: Thriving in Chaos with Edie Melson. She speaks at conferences and events from coast to coast, serves on many boards and committees, and stays busy as a publishing consultant. Rhonda says you can find her living near St. Louis drinking too much coffee and snort-laughing with her pastor/husband, five grown children, and a growing collection of the most exceptional grandbabies.