BY GREG CRUM

“But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” I Timothy 4:7-8

According to I Timothy 4:7-8, there is such a thing as exercise unto godliness, and its profit to a man or woman goes well beyond the waistline and into their eternity. It seems that so many preachers and Sunday School teachers use these verses to blissfully dismiss or diminish the value of physical exercise but fail to see the greater revelation of the need for exercise for the spirit of man. Just as the physical body can be out of shape, so can the spirit inside these bodies, and the only remedy is the application of God’s fitness plan in our lives.

The last few weeks we have written about the importance of spiritual fitness. While all of us have heard of physical fitness, not many today have a good understanding of the need for spiritual fitness in their lives. We just amble through life, thinking that if we are “born again” everything else will take care of itself. Well, being “born again” is the most important step toward anyone’s spiritual fitness, but there is so much more for us to do to get and maintain our spiritual health once we do get “saved.”

So, how do we go about getting and staying spiritually fit? This is the question we’ve posed for the last couple of weeks, and one whose answer is found by looking into the Word of God and looking at the parallels the Lord has given us in the natural. First, we stated that there are understandings we must have in order to appreciate the need for spiritual fitness. We must be convinced that our spirits can be more or less “fit,” and then we must know that God desires us to be as spiritually fit as we can be in this life. Then the real work begins.