Spiritual Body Building

I have a true love/hate relationship with lifting weights. On the love side, it is good exercise, will probably increase or maintain my mobility and strength as I age, and it allows me--along with running--to more fully enjoy food and drink. I am one of those people who works out so that he can drink and eat more. I am never going to be one of those bodybuilders that eats tuna or chicken breast every day. I don't want to be a Spartan on 'roids.

On the hate side, boy do I dislike trudging down to the basement when the couch and books are beckoning, to heave weight around for 40 minutes three days a week. I am never happy to do it, only joyful when I have finished.

When our tenant broke the lease, I spent 5 weeks painting and rehabbing the place so it would look presentable to new prospective tenants. I was putting in 10-12 hours or more each successive Saturdays and rationalized that I needed both time to recover and time to prepare for these Saturdays so I jettisoned the lifting of weights. Now, we have had a new tenant for close to a month. The weights have still remained untouched. Feeling flabby and tight around the waist, I entered the dungeon for the first time in about two months and hit the weights yesterday.

Knowing that this lifting day would come (like a spawning salmon, I always return), the other day I downloaded a free book on my Kindle Fire about Bodybuilding hoping for hundreds of pages of insight and tricks for muscle growth. What I got instead was three pages of this: Lift hard to the maximum that you can handle for about 8-10 reps done 3X, don't work the same muscles everyday along with some actual lift routines listed, a brief note that I should eat good proteins and good carbs, drink a lot of water, and rest/sleep. That was it. I felt ripped off...even though the ebook was free. What entitlement.

Lifting weights is actually a test of will more than anything. Technique, nutrition, supplements, and the like all play a role. But, ultimately is about me and the weights having a go at it. Pain is part of the process.

How does this parallel our spiritual lives? We all want something for nothing. Even though God's grace is free like the bodybuilding book, the work comes in after the download of salvation. Not to be saved, but to grow.

Here are some of the major principles:

- Hard lifting is good. We should take on difficult challenges and should not expect to be working out with those stupid Richard Simmons bands and expect anything but a Richard Simmons skinny man and puny body. Thin like a piece of spaghetti. No, load up the bar and get to it man. It should hurt. If it was easy, it would do no good. Don't be reckless either.

- Take in spiritual food daily. We waste a lot of time frittering away the day and night. I seriously spend time debating for hours whether I should lift or not. Or think, I will do it in an hour, but then eventually drop it b/c, "Hey it is late or I wonder what is happening on Facebook." Listen to sermons, read the Bible, pray. Put reminders close to where the laziness occurs, like uplifting books on the same table as the TV remote or a post-it on the lap top with the simple statement "Pray."

- The Holy Spirit only streams when we cultivate our spirituality. If we are pushing ourselves and taking in spiritual food, the Holy Spirit knows that we are seeking Him. Our thirst being filled with His goodness is a consequence of exercise and eating right. Don't expect to be filled if you are already satiated with distraction, amusement, or downright sin. Junk food that the world offers up that causes your hunger to escalate, eating but never satisfied.

- One of the ironic things about hard work (mental and physical) is that it creates the ability to rest. If we just goof around, we are probably avoiding tasks that we need to do. Then, stress starts to manifest itself which is a sign that we need to reprioritize, get stuff done, then RELAX. Don't look to relax first, otherwise you will be spending a lot of nights rolling around in bed sleepless.

In the end, all of our lifting in this world will cease. Although physical fitness plays a role in making our lives healthier and longer, ultimately it is much more necessary to build up the inner man.

2 Cor 4:16  

Because of this, it is not tiresome to us, for even if our external person is being destroyed, on the other hand, that which is from within is renewed day by day.