As we age we realize that our strength is fading and our body is failing. Is improving our fitness a cure? The many benefits of physical fitness, according to health experts, include greater strength, flexibility, energy and a better mood as well as long term health benefits. When we look for a Scriptural answer, we read the words Paul wrote to young Timothy: “Bodily exercise profiteth little: but god liness is profitable unto all things, having a promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come”.
Notice that Paul did not say that bodily exercise is useless, but that it only profits a little compared to godliness. Think about the time and money that many in the world devote to bodily exercise. The gyms are full of people working out. Sporting goods stores are packed with gear such as stationary bicycles, tread mills, and weights to sell to those who want to improve their fitness. Think how many people run in the many marathons and other shorter races happening each week in various places. Drive through any neighborhood in the early morning or late evening and notice how many are walking, jogging, or running. Many folks faithfully work out each day to keep their body fit. Others have fitness equipment stored in their homes that is not very useful because they never touch it. Sadly, every one of them eventually ends up dead, and any time spent on bodily exercise gives no benefit beyond the grave.
When Paul compares bodily exercise and godliness, he acknowledges that exercise has its benefits, but the benefits of godliness completely overpower the short term benefits of physical exercise. Godliness helps us prepare ourselves to live forever with the Lord in his soon coming kingdom. Godliness can bring the reward of eternal life. Those who do physical exercise still die.
If folks who spend so much time in bodily exercise would only apply that time and energy to godliness, how much more profitable would their efforts be, because their exercises would work towards their eternal welfare rather than such a temporary welfare that only affects this life.
What kinds of activities would we be doing if we were exercising in godliness? We would be learning about what God has told us. It does not take special equipment to study the Bible or memorize verses. Certainly we do our daily readings every day, don’t we? If any of us are too busy to read God’s word each day, then we are simply too busy in the affairs of this life. As an athlete is careful what he eats, so we need to ingest the bread of life, the word of God, for our spiritual health while avoiding the evil ways of thinking that our world offers.
Exercising in godliness involves living according to God’s will. When we wake up each morning we need to think, “What can I do today to help someone else in his walk to the Kingdom?” We show our love for God by the way we treat some of His other children. James gives us his definition of true religion, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” What we do does not need to be something spectacular, because Jesus tells us that if we just give a person in need a cup of cold water it will be remembered by him. We need to ask ourselves, how thoughtful are we to the needs of others? How can we help someone bear his load? Paul tells the Galatians, “Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” We need to be fully engaged each day in doing kind things for others.
Another aspect of godliness is preaching to others. Christ spent his time preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and to be godly, we need to try to do likewise. Truly loving our neighbor means that we want him to have the opportunity for everlasting life in the kingdom of God. We need to share our hope with those who surround us in the hope that they may hear and choose to seek the Lord and begin to walk in the way of salvation.
Paul tells Timothy to train himself to be godly. We exercise our godly muscles by filling our minds with the word of God and living a life following His commandments and looking out for the welfare of our fellows. May we spend each day living in a godly manner so that when our Lord returns we will be welcomed into his kingdom. Our prayer, like Nehemiah’s, is, “Remember me, O my God, for good”.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One