Godliness and Exercise: Held in the Balance

Last week, while balancing an almost two-year-old beside me on the bed, I finished my morning Bible study by reading 1 Timothy 4. I was struck by several thoughts from verse 8 so I jotted them down. I have a notoriously bad memory which has probably prompted my love of notebooks and Evernote. 

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 Timothy 4:8

1. Godliness to profitable to all. I know I've said this over and over, but what we really need is Christ. When we are struggling with our marriage, with our kids, with our coworkers, with our jobs, what we need is more of Christ. All of the answers are in the Bible.

-Growing in Christ will make you a better woman.

-Growing in Christ will make you a better wife.

-Growing in Christ will make you a better mother. 

-Growing in Christ will make you a better homemaker. 

-Growing in Christ will make you a better co-worker. (Or fill in that blank with whatever you are.)

Godliness will benefit every single part of your life. Pursuing godliness here will also benefit us in the next life. 2 Peter 3:11 says, "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,". This life is short. Pursuing godliness is part of living for eternity. 

2. Exercise is profitable. Take care of your body. It's the only one you have. Exercise, eat right, sleep well, drink plenty of water, maintain your weight or get to a healthy weight if you can. Of course it's only a little profitable. Health problems can occur no matter what you do, as can accidents. (Although we could argue that the verse means it "profiteth little." As in does nothing. You decide.) 

3. Keep it in balance.  When I have baby Caleb in a few months I know how motivated I will be to lose baby weight. I've been in those shoes twice already and I'm usually itching to start exercising again. Do I have that same enthusiasm daily for pursuing godliness? 

How obsessed are you with counting calories or following your diet? Do you religiously follow certain rules for your diet and not mind because you want to have good health? Do you weigh yourself everyday and adjust what you eat the next day to make the number more acceptable? I'm not saying that's wrong but do you have the same passion to follow godliness? Do you watch over your words and your tone of voice? Do you think back at what you said today so that you can do better tomorrow if you need to? Do you evaluate how you spent your time (Eph. 5:15)) so that you can better honor God with it? 

What do we really value in our hearts: our appearance or our godliness? Are we more concerned with what people think of our appearance or in how we are representing Christ? What we do in life shows what we believe even if we would say something different. 

How do you pursue godliness with a daily passion?