Is Physical Fitness Actually a Form of Fleshly Vanity?
Take a second and think about how God made you. Intricate, delicate, complicated—like an engine humming, there’s so much more going on beneath the hood.
I’m not sure there’s a single thing about us humans that is easy. Mentally, physically and spiritually—each in its own way is a matrix of elaborate design. A lot of followers of Christ spend a great deal of time focusing on their spiritual health, sometimes at the cost of their physical bodies.
A recent episode of Coach and Joe titled “Is Fitness Vanity?” had my mind spinning. (Mostly because I’m bad at fitness.) They discuss it in a way that takes it out of “Hey guys, you should work out to honor God,” and instead they say things like, “This isn’t about physical capital and it’s not about fitness; it’s tied into where you are in relationship with God.”
How you treat your body is a direct reflection about where you are with Him. In all honesty, that might scare you. It sure convicts me. Everything is about relationship when it comes to God. Working out and eating right to a lot of people can be about looking good or feeling better, but the motive completely shifts when you take into account the one who designed it all.
The truth is, if God didn’t care about our bodies He wouldn’t have put us in them. He could have simply made us spirit beings and been done with it. The designer of the universe could have done absolutely anything, and He decided to make these awkward, intricate and needy creatures from the dirt.
What does it mean to walk with Him as this needy thing? As this spirit in this body? How can we do this and do it well? Keep asking questions; there’s always deeper places to go. To explore this further, join Coach and Joe in “Is Fitness Vanity?” as they talk about what it really means to honor God with our bodies.
