God's Gym

"Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him."

Philippians 2:12-13

      If God owned a gym, I'm sure He would call it something in reference to faith. The Holy Spirit would be your personal trainer, and He would be given a customized training regiment designed to prepare you for the race He has laid out for you.

      As we read the above scripture, we know the apostle Paul was addressing the church in Philippi. The culture during the time period of this letter was that of a prosperous city with and international flair, due to it's strategic location. It was once consider the foremost city in Macedonia.
      Paul new that the infant church there, was certainly being persecuted. He wrote to encourage them in their faith, and to not get caught up in verbal sparring, but to show their faith by being obedient to God.
      Paul's message is still relevant to us today, but we far too often measure ourselves by the people around us. We are always looking at the physical traits of someones faith or we compare ourselves to "the lost", like their sub-human.
      Which is why I've always wondered why they put those huge mirrors up in a gym. They must know, we who are feeble and out-of-shape, are always comparing ourselves to the "Atlas" men and women around us. In some regards, it's rather defeating. We are all guilty of looking at what is seen, so we can feel confident we are doing well. I think Paul knew this about his friends in Philippi.  
 
      Trusting God with your life, means more than saving your skin from eternal judgement. He promises in John 10:10 that "...He came to give us life, and that we may have it more abundantly." What most of us do, is stop there. Then we begin to question "Why?"; Why would He do that for me?
      When sin entered the world, we were all genetically passed on the trait of self-love and self-worship. What we have been tricked to ignore, has been the trait of shame.
     Shame is not necessarily unavoidable, but when we begin to compare ourselves to others or even what Jesus showed us was righteous living, we immediately feel shame.
     Satan is really clever when it comes to this emotion. It doesn't take much of a push to get us steamrolling down this path. All he has to do, is make us doubt.
     Doubt is a good thing, when it causes you to question and seek the truth. It becomes divisive when we allow it to turn to unbelief. That is why Solomon says in Proverbs 3:5-6 to "...lean not on your own understanding." Our minds and our hearts are wicked, genetically.
    So why is it so hard to trust God? Why do I doubt He really cares THAT MUCH for me?

    Let's step away from scripture for a moment, and look at the ginormous industry of fitness and weight-loss.
    One of the main reasons our society is over-weight and out-of-shape is the invention of modern convenience. We are all guilty of justifying our gadgets, cars, favorite fast-food. We may even think up new ways to make easy and quick, quicker and easier.
    What we don't realize, is that we are falling into Satan's hands with our slothful, gluttonous ways. We begin to buy in to the lie that "we deserve it." Then one day we wake up, look in the mirror, and ask "What happened?" Or we take a walk, (foreign concept these days, I know), up a hill or a flight of stairs. We stop somewhere between the bottom and the top gasping for air like someone was sitting on our chest.
    We watch programs like "Biggest Loser" and secretly wish someone would knock on your door, and kick our butt into shape like one of those TV trainers.

    When you give your life over to God, I believe that is what He is trying to accomplish. When we profess with our mouth Jesus is Lord and fall under His Lordship in our life; we are asking Him to reprogram our thinking and whip us into His masterpiece.
     Why? What for?
    Since the beginning of time, God the Father, has been calling all of creation back into fellowship with Him. He even gave up His only Son to express how much He loves it. He has invited US, creation made in His image, to take on His yoke in bringing redemption to all of creation.
Can He use us in the stained, broken, out-of-shape condition we are in? No.
    Now if I stopped right there, Satan would have a field day, and back the truck of shame up and dump it all over us. But I won't.....because our Father who lives in heaven desires to wash away our past, forgive our future, and cover us in the blameless and righteous blood of His Son Jesus Christ......But He doesn't stop there!!
    He then begins to use circumstances, testing, trials, and pain to refine us back into His image. Sin did more than just destroy our relationship with God, it destroyed the whole of creation. Only through sacrifice and pain, do we remember and learn.

    Paul addresses to the Philippians the need to work out their salvation for themselves. No one will do it for us. Just like in the gym, no matter how good your trainer is, you will not begin to transform your body, until you do the work.
    Be careful not to interpret me saying we must work to earn our salvation. No, we must be obedient to the plan God has for our life, and work hard in His instruction. Salvation is a free gift. Our work-out regimen is not mandatory. But when God enters your life, He is not content with you being anything less than the best you can be. He will not stop pursuing you, until you fully surrender to Him having His way with you.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us."

 Hebrews 12:1