Spiritually Fit
I feel as if I understood something about living for God in a whole new way yesterday. And I learnt this, of all places, at the gym!
Since I turned 30, I’ve been making an extra effort to keep in a good routine with exercise. I have a few reasons for this. Things like having energy for lots of babies God-willing (and easier labours hopefully!), and also, Michael and I talk a lot about health nasties that can show up later in life which good fitness can go a long way to counteract. So anyway, these goals are inspiring me at the gym.
I was there doing a class yesterday. It was an aerobics class, it was pretty hard-going, and we were at the final peak. My cheeks were bright red, I was frantic for breath, and my body ached. The instructor yelled something motivating, and pushed us all through to the end.
It was hard, but it felt good to make the effort, to push through, to move a little closer to my goal. As I thought about it later, I remembered how God speaks to us about our spiritual lives by painting a picture of an athlete. Their focus on a goal, their daily commitment to that goal, the preparation, the growing pains.
I realised how much goes into working towards my little goal for physical fitness, and started to get a fresh understanding of how I could treat my spiritual ‘ fitness’ in the same way. That every day is an opportunity for progress, that dedicated time is set aside, that I push through the hard parts, that I develop strength and I develop endurance.
Physical fitness may definitely be good for the years ahead, but the great thing is, that spiritual fitness will be a benefit for much much longer!
Exercise daily in God – no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making yourself fit both today and forever ~ from 1 Timothy 4:6-10, The Message.
daily exercise with God - oh that is the key to life on earth. Even my children know if I did not spend time with HIM…it shows on me immediately! You have a very nice blog, and I am sure I will be visiting again…came over from gchyayles, and saw you over at TAM!s too.
Hi Darla, that’s so great that you stopped by!
Yeah, that’s a great way to put it, that time without Him instantly shows. I’ll look forward to visiting your blog too :).
I like how the scripture used the ord “flabbiness” “Flabbiness” is to me, something that has been not worked on for along time. Let’s say a discpline in my spiritual life. If I continue day by day not strengthening it, it grows flabby and then it becomes what you “nastie” or for me it becomes a hinderance or non useful. But one thing that stood out in the post was this. You said you were tired, cheeks red, and the instructor said one more thing to “push” you through. I think that the importance of relationships in our walks with God.. To MOTIVATE… Thanks for the awesome post.
Hi Heidi, I know what you mean about the word “flabbiness” and how that perfectly sums up can what happen to us spiritually when we don’t put the effort in. You’re right, it’s like a hindrance.
That’s so true about friends too! I hadn’t thought about it like that before, but we do motivate each other to press on in the same kind of way!
Hi!
I just found your blog from a link from Angie’s and I’ll be sure reading your blog from now
Thanks,
Katrina
Hi Katrina, it’s lovely to hear from you and thanks so much for dropping by
this was a good reminder… i need to be more disciplined in BOTH those arenas of my life.
Hi alece, I know what you mean. It’s such an ongoing thing too I find, every day counts, in both areas
Interesting, well worth reading.
Hi there - thanks for stopping by, and your encouraging comment, all the very best.