A Little Profit, a Long Way
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It's amazing how far down hill a misinterpretation
of Scripture can roll us. "...
For bodily
exercise is only of little profit,
but godliness
is profitable for all things,
since it holds
promise for this present life,
and also for
the life to come." (1Timothy
4:8)
How many times have you heard
it preached,
that "bodily exercise profits
little"?
And that fitness is more of a
carnal pursuit
than a spiritual one? I know
I've heard it
repeatedly, and in the same sermon,
the preachers,
on behalf of the church, would
beseech the
Lord for healing and deliverance
from addiction,
overeating, depression, and every
other kind
of maladie. And they wouldn't
be that way,
if they hadn't misunderstood
the key role
of bodily stewardship.
The body is not meant to be this
dreadful,
afflicted, and evil thing that
we drag around
and restrain from continual gnawings
over
sin. The body is the temple of
the Spirit,
a magnificent, beautiful, mysterious,
and
awesome gift that is fashioned
in the direct
image and likeness of our Father
God, and
of course, His beloved Son. It
is the house
in which we live, the sanctuary
from which
we, through worshipful adherence,
send up
reverence as a perpetual offering
of incense
rising in the fire of our breath
of life.
So then what did Paul, the great
Apostle,
mean by this? Let us keep in
mind that Paul
was addressing the Thessalonicans,
many of
whom had been exposed to Zeus
worship and
the ancient olympiad polytheistic
religions
of Greece and Asia Minor. Those
pagan folks
thought that they, through Herculean
efforts
and strict physical disciplines,
could "please
the gods" and ascend to
a deity-like
level of being. So Paul was showing
that
the way to higher spirituality
was not through
these teachings or practices,
but by something
completely different and apart
from the control
and influence of man, an ethereal
quality
he called, "godliness."
What he referred to was to become
like Christ
in our inner man, teaching that
"our
weapons are not carnal,"
and that "the
joy of the Lord is our strength."
For
those who only recognized brute
force, this
was a revolutionary teaching.
For the Christian
bodybuilder, this teaching should
bring great
joy knowing that we are working
on all fronts,
inwardly as well as outwardly,
to glorify
God and show the grandest appreciation
for
what He has entrusted to us.
Let us also keep in mind that
Paul did say
that bodily exercise did profit
for some
good, though it didn't pave the
road to heaven.
But also, those people lived
at a time completely
devoid of modern conveniences,
where they'd
have to work to exhaustion and
sweat a pillar
of salt just to gather up a meal,
or to move
around through their daily activities.
The
last thing they needed was more
exercise,
they couldn't get away from it.
Yet, Paul
acknowledged that pushing one's
limits to
increase his capacity, was somewhat
beneficial.
Today that is more true than
ever before
because we live in a sedentary
society. Most
of us sit for so many hours that
it's practically
like being wheelchair bound.
And the more
cerebral we become, the more
detached from
our bodies and disconnected from
the earthy
root of being grounded in Christ
we drift
into. As a result, our bodies
are breaking
down and our emotions quickly
follow. Saints,
this should not be...
Every muscle, bone, organ, shape,
and feature
of the body bears great spiritual
significance.
We see this mystery revealed
throughout Scripture,
especially in the Song of Solomon.
Also in
the story of Samson, we find
that his unparalleled
strength and vigor was a sign
of God's presence
and covenant with him. I can
assure you that
angels are not overweight or
out of shape,
but are perfectly fit, beautiful,
and mighty.
When growing in fitness and sculpting
our
temples, every movement is a
form of poetry
and a secret prayer that carries
loads of
hidden meaning and purpose. And
the strength
we expend is a passionate quest
to stand
as righteous warriors in His
holy order.
We'll discuss these awesome mysteries
in
future articles.
Sevi
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