Getting Fit from the Inside
Developing the spiritual man
Physical fitness is a favorite subject for some of us and a subject others would rather avoid.
If we are honest, we often feel better after a little exercise. We just do not always want to do it. Yet we make the effort because we are thinking about the future. What we do today can help us become stronger tomorrow.
Now consider the spiritual man.
I am a spiritual man who happens to have a physical body. I want to care for this wonderful machine God has given me until He calls me to something different. But how much attention am I giving to the person living within it?
Paul tells us that bodily training has value, while godliness has value for this present life and the life to come. (1 Timothy 4:7–8)
That brings the future into what I am doing today.
If I want to grow in my walk with God, I need to walk with Him. I need to speak with Him, attend to His Word, and surrender myself to what He is doing within me.
These are things that grow through relationship.
As we spend time with Jesus, He develops the spiritual person. Paul prayed that believers would be strengthened with power through His Spirit in their inner being, with Christ dwelling in their hearts through faith. (Ephesians 3:16–19)
Think about that. There is strength available for the person within us.
What might happen if we gave that growth our attention?
We may begin noticing changes in our countenance. We are happier as we walk through the world with Him. Our relationships begin changing—with people, and even with the animals around us. Something happening within us is finding expression through the body we inhabit.
Other people begin noticing, too.
The fruit of the Spirit includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those qualities become visible in the way a person lives. (Galatians 5:22–25)
Imagine those qualities growing stronger in your daily relationships.
What would another measure of patience do in your home? How might gentleness affect the way you approach someone? What happens to your countenance when joy begins taking up more room within you?
This is spiritual fitness reaching into ordinary life.
And surrender is part of that growth.
The more of myself I yield to Him, the more of my daily life I place in His hands. My thoughts, my words, my actions, and the use of this physical body all become part of my walk with Him.
Paul urges us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, and he connects that offering with being transformed through the renewal of our minds. (Romans 12:1–2)
Here is something I can choose today.
I can surrender what I do with the body God has given me. I can turn my attention toward Him and allow our relationship to shape my choices.
As He strengthens the spiritual man, that strength affects the natural life as well. These hands can express kindness. This voice can offer encouragement. My presence can bring patience and gentleness into a relationship.
The body becomes more useful in His hands as the person within it grows in relationship with Him.
Paul describes being transformed into the image of the Lord, from one degree of glory to another, through the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
That is the development I want.
I want to become more like Jesus. I want the change He is making within me to reach the people who encounter me. I want this physical body to carry the expression of a spiritual life that is growing stronger in Him.
We exercise with tomorrow in mind.
Today, I can walk with Him. Today, I can surrender more of myself to Him. Today, I can give attention to the spiritual man He is developing.
And tomorrow, someone may notice the difference.