Is exercise of the body useful for a Christian? Absolutely! Exercise can be useful for anyone – Christian or not. But exercising is something we should all aim to do as Christians. God gave us one life to live and one body in which to live it. A key point to remember is that we do not become so spiritual that we neglect our physical bodies.
On the same token, we don’t want to focus so much on the physical that we neglect our spirituality. We need a healthy, godly balance.
1 Timothy 4:8 says, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all thing, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” The verse does not negate the need for exercise; in contrast, it says that exercise is valuable while prioritizing it correctly by saying that godliness is of more importance.
The apostle Paul mentions physical training in illustrating spiritual truth in 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27. He equates the Christian life to race we run to “get the prize.” But the prize we seek is one that waits for us in Heaven – a gift that cannot tarnish or fade.
In 2 Timothy 2:5, Paul says, “Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.” Paul uses an athletic analogy again in 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Paul was not using these analogies to emphasize the importance of exercise; rather, he was using athletic terminology to teach spiritual truths and did so because he saw physical exertion in a positive light. Is exercise of the body useful for a Christian? Paul certainly seemed to think so.
The Bible instructs us to take good care of our bodies (I Corinthians 6:19-20). However, our goal in exercise should not be to improve the quality of our bodies so that others will notice and admire us. Rather, the goal of exercising should be to improve our physical health so we will possess more energy that we can dedicate to spiritual goals.
We are both physical and spiritual beings. So – yes – both body and soul are useful and important for Christians. We know that God created these two interconnected parts, and that the heath (or sickness) of one can influence the health (or sickness) of the other. God made us and redeemed us as whole persons – not just the soul, but the body, too.
If Paul says that godliness is more important than exercise, does he mean we should be reading our Bible instead of working out?
While it’s important to remember that godliness trumps physical exercise, it does not mean we ignore exercising. Instead, we should target the spiritual benefits that come from the actual process of working out.
Is exercise of the body useful for a Christian? Are there spiritual benefits in exercising? Yes!
But what are those benefits?
The first is the improvement of our minds. The spiritual benefits of exercise come through our mental posture at the moment of our most intense physical exertion. What’s going through our minds at the moment we step beyond what’s comfortable to do what’s necessary?
That’s where grace comes in. Everything in our lives is the grace of God through Jesus. The Bible says, “What do we have that we did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).
So, the best way to start any workout is to recognize this truth with a prayer. One practice is to remember three simple truths in the form of thanksgiving.
Human exertion, at some level, is necessary in just about all our waking life, but it is especially felt in exercise. You must obtain the motivation somewhere. Without even trying, the mind tries frantically to find something to hold on to as a worthy incentive. The easiest fallbacks are typically self-absorbed: we want to look a certain way, or we don’t want to give up, or because we need it. The mind, in tandem with the body, will default somewhere like this if the mind is not occupied somewhere else.
So, what if we train our minds and our souls to default on grace? What if, in that moment of extreme physical exercise, our motivation became the demonstration of God’s grace in our sweating, straining, desperate effort? We can’t do those kicks, lift that bar, or even breathe on our own. We didn’t create ourselves. And yet, we do those kicks.
We lift that bard. We do breathe. We are God’s creatures – by His grace! And when we do those kicks and lift that bar – the very moment of lifting that bar – we are bearing witness to our person that God’s grace mobilizes us to do things. Everything in that moment has been given to us, and yet, we are working. Grace and effort!
When we focus on the demonstration of God’s grace, in the actual experience of His grace behind our effort, the gym or studio becomes a spiritual training compound!
Exercise becomes an experience.
The more and more we prove to ourselves the presence of God’s grace in our exertion, the more we’ll be equipped, for the sake of our sanctification, to press in on that grace whenever and wherever life gets hard. This, then, becomes our goal! We can do the hard work, knowing that we are counted by faith, nor works, and that we’re commanded to work out our salvation in God’s strength (Romans 4:5; Philippians 2:12). We can walk away from a good workout, while learning to say: “I just worked hard, though it not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Is exercise of the body useful for a Christian? Yes! Bodily training has some value, but godliness is of value in every way. So let’s aim for both…and maybe even at the same time.
