Spiritual workout as vital as a session at the gym

Iwas recently looking through an old book about physical fitness. This is not to imply that I am a keen fan of exercise and healthy living.

My physical lifestyle could be best described as average.

However, there were a couple of statements in the book that shocked me out of my relaxed complacency. The authors clearly affirmed that, “inactivity will kill you” and that, “an inactive life is a slow form of suicide”. I nearly fell out of my armchair and almost dropped by cream bun.

These startling observations about inactivity are all the more serious when we realise that they are as true of our spiritual state.

In the Bible, 1 Timothy 4:8 tells us that, “bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come”.

Let’s look at what these words are saying. Physical exercise is only useful to us as long as we are alive. It helps to determine our quality of life, how we age and, in many cases, how and when we die. But once we’re dead, it won’t really matter whether our corpse is skinny or flabby or whatever. The inner person will have departed, as the Bible clearly says.

Godliness, in contrast to physical exercise, is useful in this life and also the life to come. How then do we define godliness? A life that puts Jesus first will be a godly life. Not perfectly perfect in every way, but improving in the right direction with God’s help and intervention.

Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead so that we would live for Him, and in so doing, have a better life – a life that improves over time in terms of lining up with His will, purposes and moral standards.

Returning to physical exercise, we observe that the fitness craze of today has a major focus on image. Specific body areas can even be targeted for surgery in order to produce a particular look. In such cases, the goal shifts from becoming fitter and stronger to achieving a more pleasing appearance.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Unfortunately, some people become so obsessed with reinventing their shape and looks that the result is unhealthy, and even bizarre.

This kind of overbalance in regard to reinventing ourselves can also happen in the spiritual life. We live in an age of “pick and choose Christianity” that is similar to going to

Subway and choosing the ingredients of your sandwich.

We can now select our own spirituality and never stray from our selfimposed preferences and limitations because we can control what knowledge we receive through the internet.

In that context, it’s easy to avoid information that challenges our cherished opinions.

This approach does not produce the Christianity that the Bible presents, but a distorted version, watered down by our own selfishness. The Apostle Paul did not advocate living according to a self-invented version of Christianity, but advocated “the whole counsel of God” (see Acts 20:26-27).

If we want to be physically healthy then we need to have a wellrounded approach, (no pun intended). Similarly, if we want a life of godliness that touches all areas of our existence, then we must embrace the whole counsel of God. ■

"We live in an age of “pick and choose Christianity” that is similar to going to Subway and choosing the ingredients of your sandwich."