The Exercise Bike

It sits upstairs. In the room that we’ve nicknamed “the blue room” sits our newest addition to the Richard household. It is the exercise bike that my mother-in-law gave to us. It’s big and heavy, and it didn’t get upstairs to the blue storage room easily, but it got up there. It’s a nice bike. It has a nice digital display that estimates calories burnt and the speed one is riding. Plus I like the nice fan effect from the blades on it. It even has the cross-country ski style handles to work the upper body. Finally, I have just what I need to get back into the shape I should be in.

So, why don’t I get up on that thing and exercise like I should? There it sits in the blue room, but I don’t grace its comfortable seat for any workouts. If it weren’t for my wife, it would be a huge dust collector. I have been given the equipment needed to exercise, but I don’t seem to be motivated enough to do it.

We do the same thing spiritually. We have the Spirit of God indwelling us. We have the Bible sitting on our nightstands and bookshelves. We have access to the Father through Jesus Christ. We have our praise and worship CDs, prayer journals, devotional books, online sermons, not to mention our churches. Most of all, we have the freedom to use these, yet they sit as unused as my exercise bike upstairs. I think that there is a spiritual problem at work here. It’s called laziness, and my first finger point is at myself.

Did you know that the Bible tells us that we should exercise spiritually? Really, it does. We’re saved by grace through faith, but to grow in our faith, we have to intentionally work at it. Just listen to Paul:

“But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” 1 Tim. 4:7-8

To exercise means to exert yourself, to strive. It means to vigorously work yourself into shape. If you want to lose weight, you have to really exercise. Spiritually speaking, we exercise when we spend time with God in prayer. We exercise when we take the time to have meaningful worship. We exercise when we put into practice the word of God, doing what it says, not just hearing it. We exercise when we get together with other believers and encourage one another.

Another problem is that we are constantly looking for shortcuts and easy ways to get in shape. How many weekend and late-night infomercials have you seen that advertise “quick and easy” ways to shed off the pounds? Ab-rollers and Ab-sliders may have some benefit, but not without the additional discipline necessary. There are no shortcuts to physical fitness, and there are no shortcuts to spiritual fitness, either. If you want to be strong in Christ, you have to get busy and exercise. Look, God uses Joyce Meyer books and CDs, but if that is all you do to strengthen up, you’ll won’t get yourself into the shape you need to be in.

Of course, we have to eat right, too. That is why it is so important to fill ourselves with God’s word. There is so much junk out there that we seek to fill our spirits with. From the shows we watch, to the books we read, to the music we listen to, we fill our hearts with the spiritual equivalent of pork rinds. Remember, garbage in, garbage out. When we take the word of God into our hearts, we are giving our spirits the proper nourishment to strengthen up.

So, do you have an unused exercise bike in your life? Are you sitting on equipment that you can use to get yourself into better shape spiritually? Are you as stationary as that bike? Then it’s time to get on the bike and “lay aside the weight” as it says in Hebrews 12:2.

God bless