A Lack of Exercise

When I look in the mirror these days I see a lot of evidence that I don't exercise nearly as much as I ought to. The simple fact of the matter is that I'm fat, and I need to shed a few pounds (or maybe many pounds...anyway...). But the problem is not just in how I look. When I fail to exercise there is a much bigger problem that comes into play...namely, my joints in my lower body become hard-pressed to do their job effectively. When I put extra weight on my knees, hips and ankles, I cause them to break down and deteriorate much faster than they would under normal conditions. So, thus, begins what I call the "vicious circle." I need to exercise to loose the weight. The more I exercise, the more of a pounding my joints take. The more of a pounding my joints take, the more sore they become. The more sore my joints are, the less I want to exercise. The less I exercise, the fatter I become. The fatter I become, the more weight I gain, making my joints more sore, causing me to exercise even less...and so on.

The reason I say this, is because I feel that we have a lack of exercise in the Body of Christ. As members of that Body, we tend to get lazy. We feel fat because, let's face it, here in America we haven't been forced to exercise at all when it comes to our faith. We say we have suffered persecution when are laughed at for talking about what the pastor said during his Sunday sermon. Or we are called "preacher man/woman" because we pray over our meal at lunchtime. But friends, that is not persecution. That's not the kind of persecution the majority of the church in other parts of the world face. Some face excommunication from their families and even death in the wake of choosing to follow after Jesus Christ.

Paul said, "I want to know Him (Jesus) and the fellowship of His sufferings" (Philippians 3:10-to read this whole chapter, click here). Why did Paul want to "fellowship" in the suffering of Jesus? Because in doing so, he began to realize just how much Jesus gave up for him. He began to realize just how much Jesus exercised for the purposes of being that perfect sacrifice so that we might have our sins forgiven, our debts covered and paid for.

Friends, we need to remember that Jesus' death, burial and resurrection give us strength to be disciplined enough to exercise each day through the reading of God's Word and prayer so that we might be lean, mean, spiritually strong fighting machines! And in that we should rejoice.

Comment and/or share with me how you keep in Spiritual Shape. And we'll see you on Sunday!