Fitness: An Idol, or Essential to Faith?
Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made. -Isaiah 43:7 NASB
The Role of Fitness
Does fitness play any part in your relationship with Christ? Should it? Fitness is not generally noted as a pillar of Christianity, yet we place a lot of importance on avoiding sins against the body (e.g. sexual immorality, violence, abortion, etc.). It’s true that to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to the Most Holy God, we need to pray for His help in abstaining from sin. However, should we not also use our bodies as they were intended to be used — for His glory?
Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Romans 12:1 NASB
The Benefits of Fitness
Not only does God deserve all of our worship, He actually designed our bodies to worship and glorify Him. We were made to help our families and friends, take the gospel to the ends of the earth, kneel in prayer, and raise our hands in song. In her book Liturgy of the Ordinary, Tish Harrison Warren writes that tasks required for the upkeep of our earthly bodies are not insignificant, but “necessities that keep us well enough to do the real work of worship and discipleship,” and that this bodily maintenance is a “confession that our Creator, who mysteriously became flesh, has made our bodies well and deserves worship in and through our very cells, muscles, tissues, and teeth.”i Such a confession makes not only fitness, but washing, grooming, and eating well acts of worship.
Fitness has a benefit other than mere upkeep to stay physically capable. Physical training also strengthens our minds and self-discipline. The apostle Paul told the Corinthian church that athletes practice self-control in every way to win a temporary prize, but we need self-control so that we will not be excluded from the hope we tell others about.ii I don’t know if Paul chose this analogy because he also had a fitness regimen, or he just understood the connection between fitness and self-discipline. Either way, we can learn from the comparison and use fitness as a tool for our own spiritual discipline and growth.
The Dangers of Fitness
As with everything in life, we must be cautious about keeping fitness from becoming an idol. Yes, health and a capable body are good and useful gifts, but they are only tools we use to bring glory to the Father. Fitness is important, but it is not the most important. It is important, but it is not what saves us. No matter how well we take care of ourselves, we still live in a fallen world. We’re breathing and consuming pollution and toxicity, there will be accidents ending in life-altering injuries, and we are powerless to prevent sickness and death. Thanks be to God, our hope is in the sacrifice of His Son on the cross, not in our own physicality!
The Gift of Fitness
In addition to general maintenance and spiritual discipline, physical training allows us to enjoy the bodies we were graciously given. It’s a great feeling to run further than you have before, to move something that was previously too heavy, or to hike up a mountain and take in the splendor of God’s creation. May we all train, use, and enjoy our bodies as God designed them to be used and enjoyed for as long as He allows.
Notes:
i Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016), 41
ii 1 Corinthians 9:25–27
