* Spiritually Fit

God calls us to be spiritually fit (mature), wholistically healthy.  He says:

 

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.  1 Corinthians 15:58

 

We start with presenting ourselves to God

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,  that ye present your bodies a LIVING SACRIFICE, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

(Romans 12:1)

 

 

No one is more worthy than God of our trust, and He’s fully able to bring to equip us with every single nutrient, all wisdom and counseling that we need to become what He’s purposed us to be in Him.  

 

On the surface, being a Christian appears easy to do, in as much as a Christian is basically a person that believes in Jesus Christ. But this is a mere surface observation especially when you consider what James shares with us:

 

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.  James 2:19

 

The truth is that being a Christian is very difficult because the real Christian is one who, because he trusts Christ, must ignore our human nature, the appetites of our flesh and the desires of mind all the while with the aim of pleasing God.  

 

God can’t use a wishy-washy, irresolute, vacillating, lukewarm, disorderly, unrestrained Christian  - that type of Christian will not please or glorify our Heavenly Father."

We have to be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,  That requires sacrifice.  Sacrifice requires the surrender of our life and thus control of it. What impressions we allow to be made upon our senses, the indulgences we grant our appetites, the satisfactions we seek for our needs, and the activities we engage in through this fearfully and wonderfully made instrument must now be controlled according to God's standards.  Apostle Paul writes, 

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;  (Galatians 6:8) 

as well as, 

"I discipline my body and bring it into subjection" (1 Corinthians 9:27)

But we don’t want to give up our self-control!  When viewed carnally, self-control—especially when linked with self-denial and self-sacrifice—seems to be essentially negative. However, when confronted with a true understanding of what human nature produces, we can see that the fruit of self-control is entirely positive.

 

To be spiritually fit, we have to be disciplined; meaning we must exercise self-control.  The Apostle Paul strongly exhorts us to self-control:  

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.  1 Corinthians 9:24-27

 

Some of our problem is that we talk about winning the prize when we haven’t learned to run with endurance; let alone focus.

 

The first thing to notice is the utmost tension, energy and strenuous effort pictured by athletes straining for the finish line in hope of the glory of winning. According to Apostle Paul, "This is the way to run, if we want to attain our potential."  This requires steady, intense concentration, of focus. We can’t afford to become distracted by things off to the side of the course. If we do, our effectiveness in running is diminished. 

 

Keeping focused requires control—not allowing distractions to interfere with the responsibility or task at hand. 

Here, the issue is single-mindedness. James writes, 

"He who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. . .  

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (James 1:6, 8)

Controlling our focus can go a long way toward making the run successful.  Apostle Paul then says: 

 

. . . every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. (1 Corinthians 9:25)

He goes on to say that we should look beyond the temporal reward because we’re striving for the eternal reward.

It’s not only a matter of concentrating while we race, but in all areas of life because our whole life impacts on the race. The runner religiously follows a rigorous program within a rigid schedule each day:

 

ü  He rises at a certain hour,

ü  eats a breakfast of certain foods,

ü  fills his morning with exercises and works on his technique.

ü  After a planned lunch, he continues training,

ü  eats a third planned meal and goes to bed at a specified hour.

ü  Throughout, he not only avoids sensuous indulgences, he must also abstain from many perfectly legitimate things that simply do not fit into the outcome of winning.

 

An athlete who is serious about excelling in his chosen sport must live this way, or he will not succeed except against inferior competitors. He will suffer defeat by those who do follow them.

 

 

I think about Job; the bible tells us that Job was an upright man who feared God.  The thing in relation to this topic that stands out to me about Job is that he was not lax in diligently continuously doing the right thing:

 

And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.  Job 1:5

 

He wanted to ensure that his children were covered

 

We can learn a great deal here about self-indulgence and self-control. It’s not enough for us to say, "I draw the line there, at this or that vice, and I won’t have nothing to do with these." We will have a very difficult time growing under such an approach, as Apostle Paul relates:  

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.  (Hebrews 12:1)

 

Many things that are not sinful are "weights" just because they’re so time and mind-consuming. Because we don’t want to fail in accomplishing the highest purposes for which we’re called, we must run light to endure the length of our course successfully.

 

Jesus says: 

Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it"  (Matthew 7:14)

Apostle Paul writes: 

"You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier"  (2 Timothy 2:3-4)

 

We’re exhorted to control our self and run to win.  In 1 Corinthians 9, Apostle Paul illustrates self-control in its positive aspects by showing what it produces along the way and—most importantly—in the end. 

 

Self-control plays a major role in bringing victory through our trusting relationship with Jesus Christ. A noted commentator, wrote, 

 

"There are few things more lacking in the average Christian life of today than resolute, conscious concentration upon an aim which is clearly and always before us."

 

Self-control is not the only factor we need to do this, but it is a very necessary one. Its fruit, good beyond measure, is worth every effort and sacrifice we must make.  In addition to self-control, we need longsuffering.

 

Longsuffering -  the ability to sustain; go through.  Apostle Paul comes at this issue from a somewhat different angle, one that comes into play in the individual choices we make during the course of a day:  

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

By this, Apostle Paul demonstrates that our life is inseparably bound to belief in God's truth. Faith without works is dead, and works without the correct belief system is vanity. Wrong thinking cannot lead to right doing.   Thus, outwardly and inwardly we will be on our way toward God's will; evidenced from the inside out.  All the virtues produced from this change will begin to grow and manifest themselves in our life.

 

Stay in the race, don't give up, don't act in haste, be patient . . .

A person who is longsuffering is not quick to retaliate or promptly punish someone who has insulted, offended or harmed him. The opposite of anger, it is intimately associated with mercy. Longsuffering is the quality of patience. It is the ability to cheerfully bear an unbearable situation and patiently endure.

King David did not act in haste when he returned to Ziklag to find that all the women and children (including his wives) had been taken captive by their first enemy as a free people.   (1 Samuel 30).  The standard of the world would be that King David would have been well within his right to immediately launch an attack.  But King David sought God first as the direction he should take. 

 

Let me pause here to say that tried and true cliché is applicable here:  haste makes waste.

 

When you read the account, King David didn’t know who attacked Ziglag – the bible tells us that a young man whom King David stopped to help in his time of pursuit unwittingly told him who burned the city!

The heroes of today's culture are portrayed in the media as angry, aggressive defenders of the people who destroy, without patience or forethought, all opposing forces regardless of their personal qualities. But believers know that regardless of seemingly good intentions, this is not the way of God.

Longsuffering is a quality of God:  

And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,  (Exodus 34:6)

 

The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.  (Numbers 14:18)

 

But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. (Psalms 86:15)

 

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  (2 Peter 3:9)

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;  (2 Peter 3:15)

 

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?  (Romans 2:4)

 

Jesus was most definitely our shining example of what it means and looks like to be longsuffering:

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:2

Longsuffering was a quality evident in the ministry of the Apostle Paul:  

But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, (2 Timothy 3:10)

 

 We are told to be longsuffering with joyfulness:  

Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience, and longsuffering with joyfulness. (Colossians 1:11)

 

Ø       We are called to be longsuffering:  

With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2)

 

Ø       We are to preach the Word of God with longsuffering:  

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:2)

 

Ø       Believers are to "put on" longsuffering as a spiritual quality:  

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. (Colossians 3:12)

 

Ø       Longsuffering is an attribute of God and thus a fruit of His Holy Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23

The fruit of the spirit is in direct contrast to the works of the flesh.  

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  Galatians 5:19-21

Is it any wonder why it is critical that we adopt and put on more and more of the fruit of God?  As we allow it to encompass our entire being, it is with assurance that the works of the flesh dissipate!