Fitness
My quest for physical fitness began
one morning when I was in high
school. I came in to my homeroom, sat down in my assigned seat
next to a girl whom I had known all of my life. She looked at me
and said, "Hi, Fatty!"
She obviously saw my shocked
expression because she immediately added,
"It's a term of affection."
I quickly decided that I did not want
to hear that term of affection
any more, so I resolved to become physically fit. I was not
grossly overweight, but I had become a real 'couch potato', living a
life of avoiding as much physical activity as possible. I began
to do a daily routine of sit-ups, push-ups, and other exercises so that
I could avoid having anyone else call me 'Fatty'.
Years later I became a volunteer with
the Fellowship of Christian
Athletes at our local university. I discovered that the
sponsoring coach had some interesting insight in the realm of physical
fitness. Just before graduation each Spring he would tell the
graduating senior athletes that they had kept themselves at the peak of
physical fitness for a variety of reasons - for their own pride, or for
their parents or others, or for the thrill of victory, or to avoid the
agony of defeat. Then he mentioned that as graduates they would
probably not continue to be involved in athletics, so they would
probably need another motive to remain physically fit. He
suggested that the best motive was 'for the glory of God':
The Apostle Paul asked this question
of the Christians in Corinth two
thousand years ago:
1 Cor
6:19-20 Or do you not know
that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit in you, whom you have of
God? And you are not your own, for you are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
ss
The coach went on to say that this
may be the best motive to become or
maintain fitness, but then the question became 'how to put that motive
into practical use'. He proceeded to say that the titles of God
as 'Father' and 'Lord' and 'Holy Spirit' are difficult to really grasp
in our day and age. So, to these athletes, he suggested that they
consider our Heavenly Father as The Team Owner, our Lord Jesus as Head
Coach, and the Holy Spirit as Head Trainer. They could all relate
to those titles and functions. He went on to suggest that each
person ask the Head Coach for a plan to attain and maintain the level
of fitness he or she needed to accomplish the Team Owner's plans and
purposes, and to ask the Head Trainer for the grace to carry out the
Head Coach's fitness plan.
Even though I was not an athlete, I
received that advice and asked
Jesus for His plan for me to be fit for Father's service, and I asked
the Holy Spirit for His help to live a life of fitness to attain
Father's plan and purposes for my life. Over the years I have
gradually had God's grace and wisdom to be fit for whatever came up in
life. For example, shortly after that coach's talk to the
athletes, our son began to play grade school football. We got him
a weight bench, but he never really touched it since he worked out with
the team at his school. But I began to play with his weights just
in time to become fit to put new shingles on our house when the roof
began to leak. If I had not been playing with our son's weights I
would not have had the physical strength to do that demanding roofing
job!
Thanks be to God for His amazing
grace!
Heb 13:2021
Now may the God of
peace (who brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great
Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant)
make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that
which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be
glory forever and ever. Amen.