My Belly's Conscience, Part I

When it comes to fitness, exercise, dietary restriction and all things similar, I am known as a "bahhhh humbug" type of guy. I mean don't get me wrong, it's not like I sit around eating deep-fried donuts and sleeping 13 hours a day. 1. I'm a very busy man. 2. I work from home. 3. There's really not enough time in the day for me to work out regularly. 4. I believe that God allowed us the ability to enjoy the foods we eat for a reason. If He wanted, He could've made us machine-like creatures for whom eating was simply like "gassing up" a Honda. Simply giving us fuel for the sake of energy. No taste, no emotional attachment, no nothing (that's right I said no nothing). You'll notice that the preceding few sentences were numbered. That's because those are just a few of the excuses I have skillfully utilized over the past few years. Years that have seen my weight bubble (lol) from 155lbs to where I am now, a whopping 235lbs!!! There have been intermittent periods of exercise and even periods of careful eating. My wife will remember the week or so that I decided to eat a salad with every meal. Oh, and a portion of meat no bigger than the size of a man's hand. The sad thing is, during these times, I have ALWAYS felt better. I had more energy, I was more alert throughout the day, my memory even increased (I think). Somehow though, these periods always faded, lasting no more than 2 consecutive weeks. Why is that???

Well, it's easier to do what I feel like doing than what I don't feel like doing. It could be as simple as that. As I got up this morning and thought about this subject, I asked myself "what does the Bible say?" Not about how fat I am, but specifically about exercise; and whether I should do it. Now some of you may be thinking, "if you think you're overweight then just exercise dude," and you may be right. However, that line of thinking has been utterly fruitless in motivating me to hit the gym again. I'm thinking I need Biblical exhortation, but is it to be found? The first place I found myself looking was 1 Timothy. This is because this is where we are as a local body. My Pastor is walking us through this book verse by verse (known as expository preaching). It's amazing, and those of you who attend Churches that teach this way can likely vouch for the fruit the Lord bears as a result. Anyhow, as we travel through chapter 4, we see Paul dealing with the false teachers who will come in and lead folks astray. I mean, they're going to try to forbid marriage and promote abstaining from certain foods as a means of attaining right standing with God. There is a lot in the first few verses of I Tim 4 that could be dealt with in light of this discussion here, but I want to just look at verse 8. "for bodily exercise is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for al things........." This is a verse that I have actually used in defense of my not exercising! The all-important question to be asked by anyone doing the same is, "what does the verse say?" Well, first we note that in the context here, Paul was addressing those who were teaching that one could commend himself to God through intentional abstinence from things that were normal and typically appealing. Again, marriage and foods were expressly mentioned. Paul says in verses 3 and 4, however, that these things were created by God as good things, to be shared in by those who believe and know the truth. So in light of this, we understand that the teaching (false) that was going around was that one way one could please God was by not doing things that God intended believers to do. This type of abstinence took a type of discipline that was seen as profitable by those espousing it. In verse 8, we see Paul stating just the opposite. "Bodily exercise (the ESV translates it discipline) is only of little profit." Paul didn't say there was no profit in physical discipline. Look at what he contrasted physical discipline with. He goes on to say "but Godliness is profitable for ALL things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." Now, I get it. So the parallel that Paul draws indicates that physical discipline is indeed profitable, yet only temporarily. My being disciplined in body makes a difference here, but not in eternity. This was step one for me, realizing that this verse does not disregard physical exercise (or restraint, or even abstinence from some foods), but simply puts them in their proper perspective. None of these things serve to make me righteous in the sight of God. In fact, there are a lot of things that are in and of themselves "good," yet doing them does no more to get me favor with God than not doing them. So if I participate in any of these things, I'd better have the right expectation of outcomes. So exercise is good, just not eternally so. Exercise profits me in some ways, just not in ways that will cross over from this life to my next (MARANATHA). This is a good understanding for me to have come to, because next I'll examine the ways exercise could profit. Along with that examination, I'll take a look at some of the implications of not exercising physically and how that could relate to the spiritual discipline we are commanded to seek (I Timothy 4:7). For now, I have one less excuse to use in my slothfullness. The excuse that "the Bible says bodily exercise profits little," has become a motivation. More to come.........