“Start CrossFit three months before your 40th birthday,” they said. “It’ll be fun,” they said. And, um, you know what? It actually was! (Okay, maybe painful, hilarious, and awkward, too, but definitely fun!)
My fitness journey over my adult life has been sporadic and a little chaotic, to be honest. I’ve tried a lot of different exercise routines over the years, ranging from winging it in the gym by myself, to hiring a personal trainer, to attending indoor classes, to Camp Gladiator outdoor sweat sessions, to TRX and Barre at the YMCA, to now—CrossFit.
Don’t worry. This article isn’t to convince you to join the program, though that’d be great. It’s simply to remind you that your health and fitness are a godly thing to pursue.
Know That Your Body Is a Temple
Scripture tells us that our body is a temple. That’s pretty important—because you know who dwells in a temple? God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV): "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."
I never fully understood that temple reference growing up. I heard this verse in church as a Southern Baptist kid and pictured myself wearing a giant blue and green robe (for some reason in my mind, temples in the Bible were always blue and green!) I was a temple. I had a funny-looking hat, too, in this vision. Ha! Even as a child, I knew that wasn’t what the verse meant, but it was hard to figure out since, obviously, my physical body wasn’t a tent.
What did it mean? Here’s another hint:
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (ESV) says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple."
Holy. That’s a big deal. God’s temple is important, and God is saying that His temple is our body. Wow! (This is precisely why sexual sins carry a different weight than other sins, but that’s an article for another day!)
As I got older, I recognized that those verses in 1 Corinthians 6, in context, are referencing sexual immorality. We can see why. The charge is to keep our bodies pure and free of sexual sin so that we can glorify God. However, we can still reasonably apply the command to glorify God in our body to our health and fitness, too. After all, if we’re always sick, weak, or plain lazy, we’re not able to do nearly the amount of work for the Lord as we could otherwise.
Don’t get me wrong—not everyone is able to exercise regularly or strength train because of physical limitations. By no means does this mean they are not glorifying God with the body they have! Rather, for those of us who have the capability, it is a good thing to exercise and be healthy for the Kingdom, to honor the body God gave you and keep it healthy for His glory.
Consider this Scripture:
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Romans 12:1 (ESV)
Sacrifice for God's Glory
I can tell you right now that getting up at 4:30 a.m. most mornings to make my 5:15 a.m. CrossFit class is often a sacrifice! But that’s the time I can go, so I go. Why? Because I just reached my 40th birthday, and I want to be healthy for all the years God still has planned for me. Before I joined CrossFit, I had gained a little weight. Not the end of the world, but I wasn’t comfortable with myself. I had slipped into a mindset of “I can’t.” I was defaulting to things that were easy and comfortable. I still exercised regularly, but I wasn’t pushing myself or seeing results.
For me, personally, I wasn’t honoring my body in the best way that I could. Mentally and emotionally, I was also negatively affected by the physical changes I experienced. I felt stuck trying anything different and struggled to find the motivation to care—until I tried a CrossFit class with my husband and got hooked. I was doing hard things regularly. Things I never thought I could do. I was being pushed and challenged, and that provided not only physical results but endorphins and positive feelings that boosted my mental health.
All of those things also benefited my marriage, and now my husband and I have this fun thing to do together. We’re glorying God with our bodies. We’re investing in our future health now, at age 40, so that we can continue to work for Him for as long as He grants us. To be good stewards and good parents and good future grandparents, Lord willing.
Avoid the Dangerous Ditches
However, like with all good things, there’s a ditch on both sides of the fitness road. On one side lurks the ditch of gluttony and laziness. That ditch is full of people who have tried and given up or decided that trying just required too much effort. “It’s too hard.” “I’m not good at it.” “I can’t stay consistent, so why bother?” Most likely, we’ve all made excuses like that at some point. The problem comes when we linger with that excuse and remain in the ditch. The longer we stay, the harder it is to get out. That’s not a good place to live and will cause mental and physical issues all your life.
But the other ditch is just as dangerous. It’s the ditch of obsession—where our goal is no longer being fit and healthy to honor God and do His work, but rather, to glorify ourselves. It’s the ditch that you tend to swerve into when you do find success and get those results from eating well and working out regularly. That ditch contains a lot of pride and not much godliness. It makes your body about yourself, not about the kingdom, and can lead to other sins.
Again, we’ve probably all been guilty of this at some point. I know I have. It’s not wrong to work hard and appreciate that your clothes fit better or that you feel better in your skin, that you have more energy, that you can lift heavier things, etc. But when your appearance or your abilities become your sole focus and motivation rather than being grateful that your temple is in good shape for serving the Lord, you can get in trouble, quickly.
If you’re someone who has never been motivated to exercise before, this isn’t a guilt trip. It’s an invitation to look at the concept of working out from a different perspective, from a view that allows you to glorify God in new ways and reap the benefits. After all, He wired our bodies to respond to weight-lifting and exercise. He wired our brains and emotions to function better with the release of endorphins and serotonin. He made it to where exercising in whatever form you choose (jogging, weight-lifting, group classes) makes you feel regulated, stable, motivated, and happy. It’s a win-win!
You might have meant to start a goal like this on January 1st, but it’s never too late to glorify God with your temple. (No funny hats or blue/green robes required!) CrossFit might not be your jam, but getting up right now to take a short jog around the block could be. Buying some ten-pound weights and using them while watching your favorite nightly TV show could be. It really doesn’t take much to get started, so give it a go! You might just surprise yourself with how much you love it.
Photo Credit: ©Zach Lucero/Unsplash
