BY GREG CRUM

“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 4:8

Every year billions of dollars are spent in the pursuit of physical fitness. That’s billions with a “B”! It’s an industry that is so large that it supports other multimillion-dollar industries by its existence. Investors take note, as long as the world turns and man continues to glory in the physical, this is a cash cow that’s not going away.

Why? Because despite the money we throw at our fat, it still seems to want to stay around! Money is not fat’s kryptonite! With that said, there is a pursuit of fitness that always yields a high return on our investment. It will never be a waste of time or money—the pursuit of our spiritual fitness in the Lord!

One day, not too many months ago, while having chapel with our school’s children we hit upon the idea of spiritual fitness. You could tell by the students’ reactions that not many of them had been exposed to thoughts along these lines. Sure, they had heard of physical fitness, but spiritual fitness? They had never seen a commercial about that on TV or over the internet and so many didn’t even know there was such a thing!

Sad thing is, many older Christians don’t realize that spiritual fitness is a thing either. All of us of this generation have been conditioned to be aware of the natural, but most of us have overlooked the more important aspect of our existence, the spiritual, and because of that our spiritual fitness has suffered.

There is a natural aspect to this life, and we need to give some attention to our physical and mental wellness, but much more we need to give heed to the condition of our spirits and work to be as “fit” as we can be in this area of our being!

So, how can we do this? How can we work to become more spiritually fit? Well, first it’s important to remind ourselves that we are not these bodies, and we are not our minds either; we are spirit beings! Now, it’s true that while we are on this Earth we have great use for these bodies. They are our “Earth Suits,” and help us to function in this environment much like a space suit helps an astronaut function and survive in outer space.

It is also true that while we are in these bodies we have great use for our minds, as they function much like a computer’s CPU and help to run these bodies and interface with our spirits. With that acknowledged, we are not our bodies or our minds, we are spirits at our core, and we will always be spirit beings primarily, no matter the type of body or condition of our minds in the future. Remember, we were created in the image of God and He is Spirit according to the testimony of Jesus. God is spirit and we are spirit beings created in His likeness. That alone should help us to understand the importance of our spiritual condition!

Now, a second truth to understand to help yourself get and stay more spiritually fit is the fact that, just like a body can be fit or unfit, so can the “real you,” your spirit, be fit or unfit, weak or strong, mature or infantile. Know this: the physical things of this world are often parallels to the things of the spirit. God does this to help us to understand how the things of the spirit operate, and to help us see the importance of the things of the spirit in concrete ways.

In the natural, it’s pretty obvious that there are times in our lives that we are more or less physically fit and to get a good assessment of our physical fitness. All we have to do is look into a mirror! Our proportions send a rather definitive message, and usually our vitals (blood pressure, blood sugar levels, etc.) confirm the testimony!

The measure of spiritual condition can be a little more difficult for some to gauge, but it can be assessed. There is a mirror that we can all look into to get a picture of who we are and who we need to be. It’s the Word of God, and it is the ultimate assessor of a man or woman’s spiritual condition. God has given us this tool, in part, so we can use it daily as a scale to monitor our fitness in His eyes. Friends, God wants us fit, in every aspect of who we are, but especially in the area of our being that is eternal!