Are You Spiritually Fit or Spiritually Fat?

While this parody is on the funny side, it deals with a serious problem. In the Bible, James wrote, “Faith without works is dead.” Without stepping out of line I’d like you to grant me permission to make a few changes. I would suggest that faith without works leads to lethargy and getting STUCK, which leads to being spiritual fat, which in turn leads to death. I will use myself as an example: I was pursuing my M.A. in Christian Spirituality and Formation, and my life was consumed with nothing but Christian books, bible verses, and 15-page papers about "spiritual stuff." At the same time, I was in seminary pursuing a certification in the art of Spiritual Direction.

It got to the point where I even looked at prayer as nothing but more work. After being "forced" to go on a retreat with God (long story short) I came to realization that I was spiritually obese. Meaning, I was taking in an inordinate amount of spiritual “calories,” but was doing nothing to “burn them off.” I was building my faith, but not the actions to accompany it.

How about you? I know us Christians usually fill our lives with lots of spiritual stuff like Church, Bible study, family time, fellowship, etc. but now we are surrounded by C0-Vid 19 and all the bad news that comes with it. So some of us are sitting around taking in (eye gate, ear gate, mouth gate) spiritual junk food (negative emotions, frustration, isolation, pandemic death stories, etc.)

So what do we do? How do we get back in shape? Unfortunately, as with physical fitness, there are no quick and easy solutions it takes discipline and work. Just like physical training loss, spiritual training requires a balanced diet and exercise.

The first thing we need to do is COMMIT! Spiritual fitness requires spiritual training. In the same way, your body needs regular exercise to stay in tip-top shape, your spirit needs regular discipline to stay strong and get rid of the stuff that says life is all about "what's in it for me." A consistent prayer life, daily Bible study, fasting, and serving are all ways to exercise your faith to stay spiritually strong and there are several exercises to choose from. You can find examples in the FREE Spiritual Journal.

Just like a physical workout, don't be surprised if this (spiritual workout) hurts a little. In fact, it should tire us out to some extent. It needs to involve real spiritual disciplines. We need to get up off our backsides and let our actions speak to God as well as our words.

So if you are ready to COMMIT and Get (Spiritually) FIT, let's do something about it. Start by downloading your FREE Spiritual Journal today, and we'll help you take it from there.