Work Up A Soul Sweat

Train yourself in godliness

 

1Timothy 4:7

 

 

If the gym is a training ground for physical discipline, then perhaps you can learn something from it about training your soul. The word translated discipline in the Bible actually comes from the Greek gymnaze, meaning to train or discipline. From it we get the word gymnasium. The apostle Paul, a spiritual gym rat if ever there was one, instructed Timothy, "Train yourself in godliness" (1Timothy 4:7).

 

Do Cardio Work First

How do you work up a good soul sweat?

 

We first have to deal with the heart of the matter, in the gym and in soul matters—cardiovascular training is a vital aspect of a physical workout. Keeping the heart strong enables the vitality of the other organs and gives strength to work the rest of the body.

 

We must be wary of natural heart disease; even the redeemed heart has an inclination toward sin. Our hearts need to be strengthened by grace and this discipline requires looking inward. The Pharisees looked on the outward; they can be categorized as those in the gym who are looking in the mirror all the time. But spiritual health is not about how you look religiously, but about how freely—and thus powerfully—we allow God to flow through you. Christ can't flow through us into the world if our heart is clogged with spiritual plaque.

 

We get our heart in good condition by examining the heart of God in contrast to our own. This requires that we know the heart of God but also that we acknowledge that our own hearts are unfit. To get at the core of it is to understand who God is and to understand the depths of our own need.

 

It is a similar approach to how people who handle large sums of cash learn to spot counterfeit money—by intensely observing the real thing. We must learn about the heart of God in order to understand how to help our heart get into shape.

 

And how do we know when a change is taking place?

 

None other than the spiritual "treadmill test" for the heart is the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22).

 

Strengthen The Core

Any athlete will tell us that the core (abs and back) is the ultimate source of strength. The core of spiritual discipline is the Word of God—Scripture alone is our fitness training manual.

 

We are able to maintain sold workouts and change up our routines from time to time as we gain instruction and wisdom from the fitness training manual—the Word of God.

 

Repetition is important to a physical workout. Equally, repetitious review of Scriptures will burn them into our mind and give us a sound core from which to live out the rest of the spiritual disciplines.

 

Strive for a Balanced Workout

Balance is vital to a good workout.

 

Imagine a man leaving the gym with remarkably large biceps. He can do single bicep curls with 50 lb free weights, but his stomach is fat, his legs spindly, and he huffs and puffs just trying to walk to his car. He would be a physical freak, an unbalanced man who had done nothing in the gym but work his biceps.

 

Consider the greatest spiritual influencers we have known, the people who reflected Christ the most. Although they possessed individual strengths, they were not one-dimensional.

 

As we consider a spiritual workout, give attention to a variety of areas: Bible study, life application, prayer, worship, evangelism and service, stewardship of time and money, silence and solitude, and journaling.

 

Our purpose in exercising our soul is not to live feeling better about ourselves—though that may be an acceptable by-product. Our purpose is to live stronger, more fit, and wonderfully conditioned to go into the world and do the work God has called us to.