Working Out is Just Too Much Work

I hate working out. I always have. Lucky for me, I've been blessed with a fast metabolism and weight hasn't been much of an issue. Additionally, since I like to be outdoors and I love playing sports I have always maintained myself is some semblance of "shape."

That is until recently.

Apparently, when one hits 30 your metabolism slows down, you eat a lot more, and get out of breath walking up stairs. I recently told my wife I ought to be running with her in the mornings.

I ought to, but I won't.

Working out is just too much... well... work. And it often times happens in the morning before any reasonable hour where any reasonable Christian would be awake. My mother used to tell me that nothing good happened after midnight. I would like to add an addendum. Nothing good happens before 9am.

But over and over again, you hear stories of individuals who get up at 4am to go run 5 miles and work out at the local YMCA. They are fit and in shape and feel good about themselves while I continue to work out the other side of my pillow for a few more hours. I am so amazed at the effort and discipline that people into working out their bodies and getting into shape.

In my church I have a man who decided some years ago that he wanted to run a marathon. When he first began training he couldn't even run a mile. But he dedicated himself to running every day, building up his endurance. Eventually he could run a mile, then 5 miles, then 10 miles. Finally he reached his goal and ran a full 26 mile marathon, and then another, even competing in the Boston marathon. What a testimony to what you can accomplish if you simply put your mind to it.

Then I ran across this passage today:

1 Timothy 4:7-8
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Paul, writing to Timothy, is encouraging him to train himself to be godly, much in the same way that an athlete trains his body into shape. What a great parallel!

Working out is not always fun. There is no magic pill that you can take to make yourself in shape. It takes time. Often working out leaves you sore and tired. It is work. It is hard. It takes DISCIPLINE.

The exact same thing is true for followers of Christ who wish to be godly. There is no magic pill that you can take that will make you godly. No amount of dunking in water will make you like Jesus. It takes training. It takes hard work. It takes DISCIPLINE. At times it isn't fun. Until you get used to it it make make you tired. It may be hard to see the results. It may leave you sore. There will be days when you don't want to do it.

Paul says... do it anyway. TRAIN YOURSELF to be godly.

It takes time and effort, but in the end, the reward is much greater than the reward you get for training your body into shape.

If you train your body into shape and work out, the reward is temporal. Eventually you will get older, get out of shape, and die. You can train the body all you want, but every day we are alive, our bodies get one day closer to wearing out.

But if you train yourself in godliness and develop spiritual disciplines such as personal Bible study, personal worship, prayer, serving the needy, taking care of the helpless, giving, etc. then the reward is not just a temporal lifestyle change here on earth; it is discipline that reaps heavenly rewards. Paul says it holds promise for both this life and the life to come.

So you wanna work out?