praying that God’s Spirit would do that work in you… and me!

great comment.

a really good self-diagnosis of your attitude and motivation. honest stuff – i like it.

i wrote on that original post your linked to:

I figure I want to be fit and healthy for 2 reasons: 1) It’s a good thing and 2) So that I can run longer in the Christian life. I figure if I can’t look after myself at 26 then it will be pretty difficult at 46 or 56.

i can see a real temptation to be vain, proud, selfish and envious in getting fit. the mirrors at the gym really aren’t helpful! i am noticing an increasing amount of vanity amongst teenage boys at the gym in how they perceive themselves. i think just keep checking your motivations. and if your motivations are skewed, pray that God would change them.

be fit so you function better. be fit so you can live longer. and then function better and live longer for the sake of the Jesus and proclaiming him.

you might work out what it means for you personally to be fit and well… and then when you reach that goal you stop. you don’t obsess about how you look – you don’t train as if an olympic or body-building medal is dependant on it.

eg – if it’s a good and healthy thing to do 30 minutes of exercise a day. do it. and rather than spending 90 minutes a day doing exercise it gives you another 60 minutes to be trained in godliness: read the Bible, pray, tell people about Jesus, help the needy, write a letter to a missionary, do some photocopies at the church office, etc…

what do you think?

(i don’t think of you just as a youth group kid – my thinking goes back further than that… sunday school kid/blackboard duster!)

But I’m starting to realise that all my reasons for wanting to be cut are sinful. Of course, I want to be fit for health reasons, but mostly I want:
– to look good (vanity)
– to be seen to look good (pride)
– to be ‘wanted’ by the ladies (selfish – unhelpful for them; superficial and worldly – I ought not want to attract the types of girls that will attract)
– to look better than the guys in the catalogue etc (envy)

etc.

But I’m totally confused now: I don’t want to give up the eternal quest for wash-board abs. Am I just disobediently refusing to submit this area of my life to the Lordship of Christ?
Is there a way to divorce myself from the above sinful reasons and still end up with a hot bod? Or should I resign myself to man-boobs and a keg, knowing that it will bring the superior pleasure of obeying Jesus?

Dave, as my youth leader (yeah, sorry… you’ll always be that to me :D) and anyone else, what are your thoughts?

The thing I like about Aussie athletes though, is that they’re not god-like.

maybe that makes worship of them all the more foolish!

The thing I like about Aussie athletes though, is that they’re not god-like. When Stephanie Rice won the other night, she said something like, “Wow. I carn’t boolieve it. Awesome!”

Doesn’t get much earthier.