A good pastor will be in God's Word. He will read it, study it, live by it, and be controlled by the Word of God. While he is feeding himself and those he shepherds on the good Word of the Lord, he is also shunning the worthless, wicked old wives' tales. There are two parts here, the taking in of good and the shunning of the wicked. Too many try to have it all. They try to take in all the wickedness and worthless tales they can get their hands on while trying to balance it all out with a good measure of the Word of God. That isn't how it works any more than having a balanced diet by eating equal portions of salad and chocolate cake.
Athletes have to watch what they take into the body. They eat the right foods at the right times and avoid the junk food, though tasty, it isn't helpful in reaching their goal. Like the athelete, shun the foolishness. It is worse than worthless. It harms your mind, it wastes your time, it takes up your energy that could be better spent doing something else. Many of the profane myths and stories that make their way into the church come by people who are looking for something new and exciting. People come up with some "deep" teaching that no one else has thought of or that no one else can see. Far from being deep, these fables are garbage and are not worth your time, other than to dismiss them and warn others to do the same.
Instead of wasting your time on worthlessness, do something profitable and exercise toward godliness. Use your time becoming more godly. Read good books. Think about profitable doctrine. Think on good, pure, lovely things. Kill sin in your life. Pray. Serve your church. Love your family.
Paul tells us to exercise unto godliness. This is discipline. Don't make the mistake that anything to do with the spiritual life has to come bubbling up from some inner promptings that you feel deep down in your soul. Yes, reading your Bible is Spiritual, but you have to get up and get out of bed and open your Bible and read. This takes discipline and it takes work. While God the Holy Spirit is responsible for working in us all that is good in our spiritual lives, He does not do this instantly and without our effort. The means He has chosen is our applying ourselves unto godliness.
Physical exercise is profitable. Keeping your body in shape is a good thing to do, but the benefits are temporary. Exercise will help us live healthy, feel better, and live longer, but exercise doesn't let us live forever. There is point in the life of every athlete where he can't run as fast or jump as high. No matter how good you take care of yourself, you will start to ache and hurt and slow down. The profit of physical exercise eventually comes to an end. However, if you exercise unto godliness, that is good for you now and forever. Exercising towards godliness is not a waste of time. You have the promises from God of the blessings godliness brings you in this life and you have the promises God has given you in the world to come.
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