CEBU, Philippines - After the huffing and puffing of physical fitness, how about spiritual fitness?
Many of us who are into a fitness and well-being lifestyle invest in thousands of pesos for gym membership or a fitness trainer. Somehow the investment is worth because it keeps organs in your body operating efficiently and saves you from hospital bills and medication costs. Without spiritual fitness, even faithful fitness training won’t work because you mire yourself in a lifestyle of sin.
Like fitness training programs where routines are designed to work out muscle groups customized to your age, body shape and height, spiritual fitness begins with designing a routine or regimen that would make you spiritually fit to be God’s disciple or live a Christ-centered lifestyle.
In fitness training, you do it in a gym or health club. In spiritual fitness, you have to look for a quite place and time where you commune in God’s presence. In the gym you need to be in sports wear and gear and in spiritual fitness you must have the Bible, a notebook or journal and pen. In both physical and spiritual fitness it is best to bring a jug of water.
When on a fitness training, the first thing to do is stretch so that muscles are relaxed. In spiritual fitness training, stretching is done with reading four chapters in the Bible to put you in a state of mind and soul with God. What you can do is read two chapters from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament.
In fitness training, staying on the cardio machine for 15 to 20 minutes follows a stretch. Purpose here is a warm up to work out the heart, induce blood circulation and oxygen production in the body. Oxygen production puts systems in the body in motion including speeding up metabolism, burning calories and ridding the body with toxins. To work out your mind and heart in spiritual fitness, you have to mark and write down what verses in the chapters you read stirs you or pierces your heart most. This flexes and conditions your mind to memorize the verses.
From the cardio machine, you do a little stretching again and then proceed to circuit training starting with the muscle group of the legs. In fitness training this is done with leg curls and squats often with weights. In spiritual fitness, you write down and reflect which of these verses affect your daily walk with God. You write down your reflections as though you are speaking to God or writing a letter to God.
From the legs, you move on to muscle groups in the chest and shoulders. This is often done with bench presses using weights and bars. In spiritual fitness, working out the chest and shoulders entails being able to look inwards, asking God to search your heart, confessing what inequities you may have committed and asking God to cleanse your heart.
From chest and shoulders, you work out your arms, biceps and triceps for toning, flexing and strengthening muscles in the upper extremities. Most women need this exercise to take out flabs in the upper arms. In spiritual fitness, you can tone the upper extremities of your being by asking God to teach or lead you where He it pleases Him. Here you can also make supplications to God and express your desires to God so you will know if His desires align with your desires. Letting God know our desires also helps us to flex how we can respond to His directive in our lives. This part of spiritual fitness takes out the flabs of desires that do not align with God’s Will.
Fitness training is completed with another round of cardio and stretching. Purpose here is to bring back heartbeat to normal levels. In spiritual fitness you can go for another round of spiritual stretching by praying for the petitions and supplications of others whom you would like God to bless.
You will have to drink water after working out every muscle group so that there is regular supply of oxygen from the water you are drinking – remember, water is oxygen. It is this oxygen that enlivens your exercise and your mind when in spiritual fitness training.
It is always best to start fitness training in the morning so it gets you renewed and conditioned the entire day. Starting your day with spiritual fitness gets you moving and walking in a Christ-centered itinerary during the day and night. While fitness gives you the benefit of weight loss and keeps you fit and trim, spiritual fitness does more – it gives you the benefit of sin loss and keeps you fit and trimmed only to a lifestyle aligned in the life of Christ.