Keeping Physically and Spiritually Fit

After a slip and fall prompted me to get into the gym, I’ve appreciated the renewed strength and balance—and their spiritual parallels. 

Exercise, exercise, exercise! How many advertisements and articles do we see every day encouraging us to get more exercise?

Getting stronger

Our eldest daughter, Sharon, runs her own private gym and offered to help me get stronger and avoid a repeat of a recent accident in which I slipped and fell in a bathroom.

My husband joined me, though little did either of us know what we were getting ourselves into. We now attend her gym three days a week for hour-long sessions.

Most days, we arrive pleasantly relaxed, only to be confronted by ropes, elastic bands, boxing gloves and dumbbells—to name just a few of the challenges awaiting us. We quickly learned that however jaunty and dapper we felt during the workout, the following morning would tell a different story.

The first part of each routine begins with what feels like a mind game. It may appear to be a simple exercise, but it is cleverly designed to challenge the brain’s cognitive capacity. We stand in a circle and pass a ball to another person.

Sounds simple enough, right? Here’s the catch: as you throw the ball, you must call out the name of someone in the circle—but not the person you are actually passing it to. In this fast-moving exercise, a mistake means a penalty: a push-up for the men or a squat for the ladies.

Laughter is medicine

The routine offers an additional benefit—laughter. Proverbs 17:22 states, “A merry heart does good, like medicine.”

As Robert Alden notes in his book Proverbs: A Commentary on an Ancient Book of Timeless Advice, there is a connection between spiritual and physical health. Referring to this proverb, he writes, “A cheerful heart promotes health while a dispirited one prompts illness.”

Anxiety and depression are common mental health struggles for many people today, and laughter is one way we can cope with life’s many challenges. Added to that, studies show that exercise helps reduce stress and improve one’s mood.

Exercise teaches resilience

Our daughter has a carefully planned schedule designed to improve our balance and strengthen our muscles from head to toe. She refuses to accept excuses such as, “That exercise is too hard for me,” or, “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

If Sharon notices we are struggling, she is quick to offer encouragement and support. But completing the routine is still expected! We often joke that she is simply repaying us for all the correction we gave her growing up.

One exercise I particularly struggle with involves standing, or attempting to balance, on a half exercise ball (also called a BOSU ball). Especially beneficial at our age, this exercise helps improve balance for everyday activities such as climbing stairs, getting out of the bath, rising from a chair and other daily movements.

There are many other exercises she puts us through to strengthen the major muscle groups and teach us the safest and most effective way to get up after a fall.

Exercising our spirit

Apart from the physical benefits, these exercises remind us of spiritual principles and standards found in the Bible. Paul sometimes referred to athletic training and competition to illustrate spiritual lessons and their application in daily life.

One such verse is 1 Timothy 4:8: “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

It is important to remember that while physical exercise has value, training ourselves in godliness is far more important. In verse 7, Paul instructs Timothy to “exercise yourself toward godliness.”

Godly training benefits us not only in this temporary physical life, but also in preparing for the life to come.

We are grateful that our daughter provides us with the physical tools to strengthen our bodies. But even more importantly, we are thankful that through God’s calling and His divine power, we have the spiritual tools needed to keep moving forward and building the spiritual muscles of godly character.

The saying “no pain, no gain” applies both physically and spiritually.

An inheritance beyond exercise

Peter wrote of “an inheritance incorruptible [incapable of decay] and undefiled [unpolluted] and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:4-5).

Despite regular exercise, our physical bodies—and the muscles we work so hard to keep in shape—remain subject to aging, decay and eventual death. But as we spiritually exercise our minds and bodies according to God’s instruction, we are developing the character that leads to an inheritance that is imperishable and will never fade away.

What physical and spiritual lessons have you learned through exercise?