The Benefits of Physical Exercise: Part 1

As if God didn't get my attention the first time (yesterday), today's lesson also spoke to me. On a totally different level. In regards to the passage in study, I feel like the Message paraphrase said it well:

So far this week we have been looking at what it means to exercise faith. We have looked at some of the Bible’s images of athletes and racing that he used to talk about the Christian walk of faith.

At the same time, too, we have been told that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19, 20).

Read 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20. What is Paul saying there? How might the question of physical exercise be linked to these verses?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (The Message)

There's more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, "The two become one." Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never "become one." There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for "becoming one" with another. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

Our bodies are gifts from God. They are not to be abused. Science has shown us, over and over, that almost every aspect of our physical being is benefited by exercise. Sure, we were not all called to sprint four-minute miles. But in almost all cases, we can do enough exercise in order to benefit ourselves greatly, not just physically but mentally and spiritually, as well.

As Christians, we do not believe in the Greek idea of a separate immortal soul. We do not believe in the pagan idea that the body is somehow evil. Our minds, our bodies, these are both gifts from God, and they are very closely related. How we feel physically will impact how we feel mentally, and that will impact how we feel spiritually, as well. Everything is related, and we cannot neglect any aspect of our being without impacting other aspects, as well.

“The requirements of God must be brought home to the conscience. Men and women must be awakened to the duty of self-mastery, the need of purity, freedom from every depraving appetite and defiling habit. They need to be impressed with the fact that all their powers of mind and body are the gift of God, and are to be preserved in the best possible condition for His service.”—Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, p. 130.

Those who exercise can attest to the wonderful benefits that come from it. And the good news is, you do not need excessive amounts of it.

Though many folk are busy, we are commanded by God to take care of ourselves, and exercise is one important way we can do it. What about you? How much time do you spend exercising? What excuses do you use to get out of doing it?

A Day of Dejection

This devotional spoke mountains to me yesterday, during which I questioned if God still remembers me. I mean, everyone always says He never forgets about you. But without a physical presence or a voice to talk to on the phone, you have your moments of doubt. Thanks, God for answering my questions about life!

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Believing Without Seeing

The dejected young officer kicked a small stone in the dry, desert sand. His mother was to undergo surgery for breast cancer. The demands of the military operational schedule would not allow him to return to be at her side. With a tinge of anger and rebellion, he asked, “Why? Why? Why?” He had been praying for faith and, in these moments, when things were not going as he wanted, when his prayers weren’t answered as he had hoped, he found his faith waning. The darkness of doubt crept into his soul and, for a few moments, he wondered if God existed at all. Then as the sun rose, and the beauty of the dawn filled the sky, his mind went to some verses in the Bible, to a story that he had known since childhood, and as he dwelt upon that story, his faith returned. However difficult it was for him to understand about things, however hard it was for him to see the reasons for what had happened, he pressed on ahead, trusting and loving His Lord Jesus.

Read John 20:24–29. What does this story say to you? How often do you need to believe without seeing? Why is that such an important aspect of what it means to exercise faith?

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After Jesus patiently and tenderly revealed His wounds to Thomas, Thomas acknowledged “My Lord and my God” (vs. 28). The text that stuck in the young military officer’s mind was: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (vs. 29, NKJV).” This was indeed the key—to believe without seeing; to take God at His word without insisting on “proof.” After all, for some folk, all the “proof” in the world will not convince them to believe. Living by faith is, then, going on what we already know of God’s love; it means trusting God based on what we have already experienced; it means taking Him at His word because He has shown us His goodness and love—no matter how difficult our circumstances are and no matter how much we do not see or understand.

When was the last time you needed to act on faith without seeing? What happened? What did you learn from that experience that could help others who might be facing a similar situation? If you had it to do over, what would you have done differently, and why?