Gene Wilkes - A New Way of Living: Practicing the Beatitudes Every Day

A NEW WAY OF LIVING

Practicing the Beatitudes Every Day

OTHER NEW HOPE BOOKS BY
GENE WILKES

Character: The Pulse of a Disciples Heart

Coauthored with Norman Blackaby

GENE
WILKES

Practicing the Beatitudes Every Day

New Hope Publishers
P. O. Box 12065
Birmingham, AL 35202-2065
NewHopeDigital.com
New Hope Publishers is a division of WMU.

2013 by Gene Wilkes
All rights reserved. First printing 2013.
Printed in the United States of America.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wilkes, C. Gene.
A new way of living : practicing the beatitudes every day / Gene Wilkes.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59669-365-4 (pbk.)
1. Beatitudes--Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
BT382.W54 2013
241.53--dc23

2012034901

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible copyright 2000 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked TNIV are taken from the Holy Bible, Todays New International Version TNIV. Copyright 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved worldwide.

Cover Design: Michel L
Interior Design: Glynese Northam

ISBN-10: 1-59669-365-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-59669-365-4
N134108 0113 3M1

All of the exercises I do, I do best with a partner or in groups. My spiritual life is done best that way, and so is my writing. I am never as good a communicator alone as I am in a team. I want to thank Andrea Mullins, Joyce Dinkins, and Tina Atchenson on the New Hope team who made this project possible and who put it in its best form for you, the reader. I also could not have written this book without the writing partnership of Cheryll Duffie, who also happens to be the mother of my youngest daughters husband! Cherylls humorous and popular style has made my sometime heady thoughts appealing to many more readers. I am indebted to her for her many original thoughts and patient rewrites of the manuscript. I also want to thank my Leader and the One on whom I keep my eyes, Jesus. His example of endurance and victory on the Cross is the greatest act of love and compassion known in human history. No one has matched His physical, emotional, and spiritual victory to defeat evil and death, our two greatest enemies. His creation, in which we run, ride, and hike is a gift to us all and a gift we too often overlook as we live and dwell in our handmade worlds. May we tread lightly as we run with all our hearts.

To my brothers and sisters in Christ who run, ride, and hike with me and who seek to follow Jesus ways and words of life.

Who wouldnt be up for a new way of living? How often is it that all the major areas of your life are hitting on all cylinders? Just when you think things are going good on the home front, the boss throws a major project your way thats going to demand all that youve been giving... and more. Or, maybe youre really serious about developing and sticking with some semblance of an exercise regimen and your knee goes out. Or, maybe... the point is: the times when everything is going great in every area of life are few and far between and short-lived when they are even present! I say that not to discourage or frustrate you, but to encourage you that a new way of living can be as simple as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or reading just three verses a day from the Bible, or extending a compliment to an equally overextended co-worker. Stay with me, friend. I can sense the skepticism and were only a paragraph into this journey.

I promise a new way of living really is that simple.

In all my years of preaching, teaching, running, cycling, growing, and learning, Ive come to a startling discovery about wellness and its pursuit: It is achieved one choice at a time. Thats it. Incredibly simple, isnt it? This new way of living thats yours for the doing all comes down to one single, solitary decision at a time. Reminds me of the ancient adage that goes, A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Exercise doesnt create the gift; it enhances it.

The same holds true for all areas of wellness, whether it is emotional, spiritual, mental, or physical. It is a matter of being proactive in our pursuit and being preventative in the measures we take to head off likely challenges and temptations. Its a delicate balancing actwhat with planning ahead to make sure there are carrots in your desk drawer to snack on instead of Hersheys Kisses and making actual write-it-in-ink appointments with yourself to exercise physically and rest, refuel, and reenergize your emotional self, all the while trying to honor your resolution to grow spiritually. Add 2.3 kids (OK, maybe just 2 whole kids), a laundry pile you havent seen the bottom of in weeks, and a lawn that announces to the neighborhood your obvious neglect, and suddenly youre juggling more commitments and demands on your time than a circus clown has spinning hoops. I said pursuing wellness in our lives is simple... but that doesnt mean its easy.

I know all too well how the most insignificant conflicts to your schedule can turn into time-zapping, priority-busting, theres-always-tomorrow inroads into your best-laid plans. I know because, despite the fact I encourage, teach, and lead people for a living, this morning I cheated on my morning workout. Big deal, you say. Make it up tomorrow, Wilkes. Whats the worst thing that can happen if some runnin dude doesnt get his shot of endorphins today? Let me explain.

I was training for a marathon when I wrote this, and the schedule called for eight miles tempo. I ran only seven and never really sustained my race-day pace. Of course, I had good excuses. The workouts hard, and my aging joints are sore. The weathers bad, and Ive already completed the other runs scheduled for the week. Surely my earlier runs will compensate for this shortened one.

Good excuses. Bad results. If I dont stick to my preparation schedule, Ill never run the race I hope to runno matter the quality of my excuses.

Believe it or not, my incomplete workout today will affect my performance even though the event is ten weeks away. Endurance is built by placing one workout upon the other. You must be consistent over the long haul to run successfully.

What I did that morning is what too many of us do every day in our spiritual training. We have great excuses for cutting our time short with God. We then wonder why we find ourselves falling short of where we want to be in our relationship with Jesus. Hurried schedules, cluttered lives, and urgent tasks push our endurance-building time to the end of the day, week, or month. Soon we can only remember when we were spiritually fit as we succumb to the battle of urgency over what is important.