What a Summer!

What a summer it has been!  As I write this, the last few events of the Paralympic Games are taking place, and that, following the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, have made it a golden few months in all sorts of ways.  Suddenly being British seems to be popular again.  Even the sun is shining at the moment!

After weeks of watching the medals stack up at the Olympic Park, lots of people are wondering how they are going to get back to normal.  The politicians and sports officials who brought the Games to the country are hoping that they will have a long term effect which lasts well past this summer.  All along they have hoped that it will encourage us to be more athletic and to get involved in sport of some sort.  With obesity such a problem to the health of the nation, and the finances of the NHS, anything that encourages people to exercise more will be grasped at with both hands.  However young or old we are, regular exercise is important for a healthy body and mind.

 Over July and August we saw how the Apostle Paul drew on the athletics event of his day to illustrate truths about the Christian living.  We read about ‘running a race’ and ‘winning a crown’, and were reminded about how we need to dedicate ourselves to Christian living, with a single-mindedness like that which we have seen in the sporting heroes of this summer.  The Apostle also speaks about ‘exercise’ in one of his letters.  In 1 Timothy 4:7,8 we read this;

“ … exercise yourself toward godliness.  For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

 Physical exercise is good for us.  Even if we are old, and all we can manage is to walk around the living room once or twice a day, it gets the blood circulating and keeps the muscles active.  Younger people jog, swim, walk, cycle, lift weights and do all manner of other things in the hope that the day they ‘get old’ will be delayed as a result.  But the Bible reminds us that physical exercise only has limited benefit.  At best, it may only delay the day of our departure from this world, and it has no effect in eternity. 

Instead, Paul points to a more worthwhile type of exercise.  We should aim to be godly!  That, he confidently asserts, has benefits in this life and in the life to come.  We are created in God’s image and for fellowship with him.  That must mean that the more ‘godly’ we are the more we are reaching our human potential.  Godliness – being like God in our attitudes, actions, thoughts and deeds – is, of course, as alien to us as physical exercise to a ‘couch potato’, but without it we cannot enjoy God or true life.  And whereas the benefits of physical exercise stop at death, the godly man or woman has the promise of life eternal where God will be enjoyed forever. 

What sort of exercise have you done today?  Physically and spiritually?