Musings & Younger Perspectives:
Exercising Physical and Spiritual Fitness | By Lauren Short
Over the course of the last year, my family has been though a lot health-wise. My dad had bypass surgery (while preventive, but still scary) and has had to watch what he eats and how he takes care of his body. Since then, I have been on a bit of a fitness and health kick. While I have had my own health issues, I have finally decided to take hold of my health and what I put into my body. Not only should we be taking care of ourselves physically, we need to exercise our spiritual health as well.
While turning to the Bible for inspiration, I found Philippians 3:12-14 in the NIV which states “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
A few questions came to mind about a connection between physical fitness and spiritual fitness when reading this passage. There are many things we must do in order to maintain our physical fitness. For me, I exercise four to five times a week and try my best to eat right. I use different tools to make sure that I stay on track, such as logging my entire food intake and exercise with the app “MyFitnessPal” and meet with my personal trainer at least once a week. Another tool over the past three months that I did was have a support group in “The Biggest Loser” competition at my gym in which I took 4th place for my gym. So having the tools to exercise physical fitness is extremely important.
The same is true for spiritual fitness. We all need a support group, like a church or small group in order to be accountable for our actions as Christians. That is a very traditional way of looking at a support group. I have found as a young adult that meeting in locations such as a bar or restaurant has opened many doors to new and inviting conversations with other people. While sometimes it is hard for young adults to come to church every Sunday morning, I know for me its one of the best ways to exercise my spiritual fitness. Going to Sunday morning service helps “recharge my battery”. While this is helpful for me, everyone needs to find what is best for themselves.
When you look at your spiritual fitness what tools do you need? How do you exercise your spirituality everyday? How do you log your spiritual fitness so that it can hold you accountable? Who is your support group? You can probably find these in many different places or in one place.
My challenge for you, how do you exercise you spiritual fitness everyday? What are some new and exciting ways in which you can become closer to God?
Lauren Short serves as a member of Federal Way United Methodist Church.
Photo courtesy of Björn Láczay/Wikipedia. Learn more about this photo, here.
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