If you know me pretty well, you would know that I usually
see a lot of spiritual applications and illustrations in my daily life. I was
at the gym the other day and I couldn’t help but correlate the gym to our
spiritual walk. Let me elaborate.
I was at the gym during the wee hours of the morning the
other day and like most of us, I observed people as I was working out. I was on
the second floor on the elliptical and looked down at the first floor of people
doing their work out routines: Triceps, squats, yoga, spin class, weight
lifting, chest presses, racquet ball, etc. I noticed how different and
individualized everyone’s work out routines was and how they went about their
work outs. There were some people that go there with a “work
out buddy” because they know that would keep them motivated to upkeep their gym
habits. There are others that have their head phones in, extremely focused, and
need their music to stay on beat to complete their work out. Some find yoga to be a way to stay fit and happy, but I personally find it a bit torturing. But hey, doesn't mean that it doesn't work! Just means it's not the way I prefer to go about a work out. There are others
that simply go about their work out with no real agenda and go around to do
random work outs, chat with others, but work up a good sweat. Everyone has
their own routine, way of doing things, and schedule when it comes to working
out. However, everyone’s end goal is to leave the gym feeling accomplished knowing
that they are in a healthier physical state than before. Everyone’s end goal is
to feel good and look good. And once we fall into a place where we no longer
make time to stay physically active and fit, we get out of shape, become less
motivated, and could potentially fall into a state of discontentment.
I couldn’t help but think about how this could relate to how
we as Christians can go about our spiritual walk the same way. Every Christian
goes about their spiritual walk at a pace or in a way that is individualized to
best fit who they are as a Christian (besides
reading scripture and having prayer rituals because those are super dang
important). Some Christians have that “work out” buddy that they need to stay
motivated, focused, or help hold them accountable. Not that they need someone to maintain a spiritual
walk, but many Christians have that one buddy (or two) that help keep them on
the right track. There are others that enjoy staying involved in church and
community activities because they feel as though that is what draws them closer
to Christ. They feel as though doing service for others is their way of filling
their spiritual cup. There are those Christians that thrive off of being in an environment
with other Christians because they enjoy the community and how it contributes
to their spiritual walk. There are some vital things that Christians do to keep
their spiritual walk steady and happenin, but many people go about it their own
way. We all go about our journey of discovering who Christ is and who we are IN
Christ in a different ways. However, we all have the same goal: Getting to
know Christ in a personal way and being the person HE has called us to be so
that we can live in heaven with Him forever. How we go about that journey
is completely up to us. And just like those that stop going to the gym,
if we as Christians get out of a routine or habit of staying spiritually fit,
we will also get out of spiritual
shape, become less spiritually motivated,
and could potentially fall into a state of spiritual
discontentment. Yikes.
Trust me; I (because I’m human) have my fair share of
struggles with this as well but it's a process I daily go about with intention, even when some days are harder than others. What keeps
you spiritually fit? How do you go about maintaining your walk steady? Do we need to seek out a friend or two to help us out a bit? Whatever it is, if you have the mindset that maintaining and developing a steady spiritual walk is important to you, time to start exploring how that will take place. We just need Jesus as our personal trainer and
this whole spiritual work out will be a breeze. :)
