…Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Ti 4:7–8.
I do not exercise very consistently.
As I’ve gotten older with more responsibility with family and work and as my body has deteriorated due to unhealthy eating habits…working out has become less and less consistent. I’ve become less and less committed to staying physically active.
The effects are noticeable. I can feel joints getting rusty, muscles getting tighter, less energy throughout the day, and belly protruding more and more out. I’m much more restless. Getting up for the day is harder. I’m dependent on more and more coffee to stay awake and active throughout the day. Physically and mentally, I am not in the best of shape.
Having been a consistent gym-goer before in my lifetime, I know the sacrifice and time it takes to create a consistent habit of working out. It’s weeks and weeks of mental commitment and scheduling ahead. It’s making room for it in my schedule. It’s setting alarms and making sure it doesn’t interfere with my other responsibilities. It’s finding ways to enjoy working out. It’s researching how to use certain exercise machines and doing certain workouts. It’s having money to pay for a gym. It’s finding friends to keep you accountable or to workout with. There is a lot of intentional commitment that goes with building up a consistent habit of exercise and staying physically fit.
My wife and I started working out. We decided to take it easy on our old deteriorating bodies so instead of paying for a monthly gym membership, we invested in an expensive rowing machine. It’s a near full body workout and easy on the joints. It allows us to keep ourselves entertained because we can row in front of a TV or listen to an audiobook or something else. We decided that it was time that both of us had something that we could both do together (albeit at different times since we only have the one machines). We committed to 30 minutes a day so that we could shed some pounds before a wedding we have to go to in March. I’m using you, the reader, as someone to hold us accountable. We don’t want our investment into this rowing machine to go to waste.
All that being said, it makes so much sense why the apostle Paul connects training in godliness with training your body.
Godliness takes intentionality. It takes scheduling devotional time and prayer time and gathering with other saints to worship with on Sundays. It takes accountability from friends to call you out on your sinful habits when you fall short of the glory of God. It takes sacrifice, even financially, to continue to grow in godliness.
Training in godliness is a life of holy consistency. It’s a commitment to live for the glory of God in all that we are doing.
The distinction that Paul puts between physical training and spiritual training is the value.
Paul puts that physical training has some value. I imagine the protrusion around my belly will reduce a bit. I imagine being more energetic and less reliant on caffeine. I imagine that I will be stronger and more flexible and less prone to injury. I would hope it would help me live longer. I’ll be healthier overall. And that is valuable. It’s not something to be overlooked.
However, nobody lived forever just because they were an athlete. Bodies still break down. People still get into accidents and halts a career. Even through consistent exercise, death still comes. Time always wins.
But Paul says that training in godliness has value in every way. It hold value now in the present time and for the life to come. In the present time, I believe there is more satisfaction in Christ than in the circumstances and things of this world that always end up letting us down. I imagine that the building up of the body of Christ brings more joy than the grueling work of building up muscle does. I believe that the expansion of Christ’s kingdom and proclaiming salvation to the ends of the earth brings more glory to God than looking in the mirror and seeing how much jiggle is left to reduce. There’s value in training for godliness now and in the life to come, where we will have resurrected bodies.
I don’t know what our bodies will be like in the life to come. I have no idea if we will have to stay physically fit in the kingdom of heaven. But there’s no deterioration of the body because there will be no more sin and sickness and death. It is a life worth committing to because it has infinite value.
Commit to working out and physical exercise. Do what you have to do to stay healthy. But let that simply be a picture and reminder of the value that there is in training for godliness.
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