Profitable Exercise
A few months back, prompted by a recent series of blood work, my wife and I invested in a tech-fancy scale that does much more than read out our weight. Does that, but the device also records body fat percentage, body fat mass, lean mass, subcutaneous fat mass, visceral fat index, skeletal & skeletal muscle mass, body water percentage, metabolic rate, metabolic age, heart rate, and body cell mass.
Taking all that information over a period of several days, the device generates a Health Score. All of this is recorded on a phone app, of course—where else in this day and age?!
When I first stepped on the scale, I did so with a bit of trepidation. What’s this thing going to find? Am I going to be completely discouraged? Initial results weren’t that bad: my overall Health Score was above average, in the upper 500s.
But what’s really cool is getting a progress report to see how you’re doing over time.
My most recent (from June 29–August 18) shows a Health Score of 598…I’ve lost more than 5 pounds (my weight is standard)…Body Fat percentage is low, at 21.5%…Basal Metabolic Rate is 1615 calories/day...Body Cell Mass is high at 91.9 lbs (that’s a good thing). Most encouraging is my Metabolic Age: 58! That’s ten years younger than my actual age!
In short, the “scale” can generate excitement and motivation to change or to keep going in the right direction.
Legitimate as it is, though, that excitement and motivation need to be balanced with the perspective of 1 Timothy 4, where Paul exhorts pastor Timothy to “exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little,” he says, “but godliness is profitable for all things…” (vv. 7-8).
Some have taken Paul’s exhortation to the extreme and concluded that, if you’re really spiritual, you won’t waste time with an exercise program. In fact, one pastor I know intimated that the only legitimate exercise program for spiritual believers was going on door-to-door visitation once or more a week!
That’s not Paul’s intention.
He’s pointing out that the tangible value of my good eating habits and a reasonable daily exercise program is limited to this life only. One could argue, however, that there are some eternal benefits in that a healthy lifestyle may prolong one’s life and give more vitality to his days, thereby increasing and enhancing his usefulness in serving the Lord. Does a Metabolic Age of 58 mean I’ll live and serve Christ ten years longer???
Well, whatever the case, Paul’s simple point is that all that profit is limited.
Exercising unto godliness, by way of contrast, yields eternal dividends, bringing beneficial impact in this life and in the next, as well.
What exactly does it mean, then, to “exercise…unto godliness”?
We might define “godliness” simply as “my reflection of God, or godly character.” Character traits such as holiness, kindness, compassion, grace, righteousness, justice, truthfulness, loyalty, patience, love, and so on need to be developed in the Christian’s life. They won’t appear automatically in a totally passive, mindless, disengaged believer. We need to “exercise” ourselves in their development.
In other words, as we see traits that need to be developed, we actively take steps to grow in those areas. For example, if I tend to be impatient with people, I need to admit that weakness, ask for God’s grace and help to develop patience. And then, when I begin to get riled, I discipline myself to calm down, look at the person’s situation from his perspective, and realize he’s not doing whatever to upset me.
So, how’s your exercise program? I don’t know about you, but I certainly have a whole lot of working out to do!
Taking all that information over a period of several days, the device generates a Health Score. All of this is recorded on a phone app, of course—where else in this day and age?!
When I first stepped on the scale, I did so with a bit of trepidation. What’s this thing going to find? Am I going to be completely discouraged? Initial results weren’t that bad: my overall Health Score was above average, in the upper 500s.
But what’s really cool is getting a progress report to see how you’re doing over time.
My most recent (from June 29–August 18) shows a Health Score of 598…I’ve lost more than 5 pounds (my weight is standard)…Body Fat percentage is low, at 21.5%…Basal Metabolic Rate is 1615 calories/day...Body Cell Mass is high at 91.9 lbs (that’s a good thing). Most encouraging is my Metabolic Age: 58! That’s ten years younger than my actual age!
In short, the “scale” can generate excitement and motivation to change or to keep going in the right direction.
Legitimate as it is, though, that excitement and motivation need to be balanced with the perspective of 1 Timothy 4, where Paul exhorts pastor Timothy to “exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little,” he says, “but godliness is profitable for all things…” (vv. 7-8).
Some have taken Paul’s exhortation to the extreme and concluded that, if you’re really spiritual, you won’t waste time with an exercise program. In fact, one pastor I know intimated that the only legitimate exercise program for spiritual believers was going on door-to-door visitation once or more a week!
That’s not Paul’s intention.
He’s pointing out that the tangible value of my good eating habits and a reasonable daily exercise program is limited to this life only. One could argue, however, that there are some eternal benefits in that a healthy lifestyle may prolong one’s life and give more vitality to his days, thereby increasing and enhancing his usefulness in serving the Lord. Does a Metabolic Age of 58 mean I’ll live and serve Christ ten years longer???
Well, whatever the case, Paul’s simple point is that all that profit is limited.
Exercising unto godliness, by way of contrast, yields eternal dividends, bringing beneficial impact in this life and in the next, as well.
What exactly does it mean, then, to “exercise…unto godliness”?
We might define “godliness” simply as “my reflection of God, or godly character.” Character traits such as holiness, kindness, compassion, grace, righteousness, justice, truthfulness, loyalty, patience, love, and so on need to be developed in the Christian’s life. They won’t appear automatically in a totally passive, mindless, disengaged believer. We need to “exercise” ourselves in their development.
In other words, as we see traits that need to be developed, we actively take steps to grow in those areas. For example, if I tend to be impatient with people, I need to admit that weakness, ask for God’s grace and help to develop patience. And then, when I begin to get riled, I discipline myself to calm down, look at the person’s situation from his perspective, and realize he’s not doing whatever to upset me.
So, how’s your exercise program? I don’t know about you, but I certainly have a whole lot of working out to do!
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