PUSH UP?
As I continue to ponder on the many activities associated with how Christian faith should be pursued, it becomes obvious to me that some of the questions in my heart are becoming very audible, even to the passerby. One of them is fitness. What should be the right perspective to it? I love to work out in the gym, and many times I get worried by some of the comments I get from people, like, “stop being carnal”, “stop doing the things of the flesh”, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood”, etc. As I consider these, I begin to lose interest, but then, I need to be fit in order to fulfill God’s purpose for my life. Yes, I mean, physically fit. Imagine if Jesus was not a carpenter, would he have been able to carry the cross? I believe, Jesus was a macho man with well-developed muscles following the way he was raised. And Luke records, “…Jesus increased in wisdom and stature…” showing His level of physical fitness before launching into His assignment. He was fit all round, spirit, soul and body.
Interestingly, I find in one of the epistles, Paul’s letter to his protégé, Timothy, thus:
1 Timothy 4:8-10 (MSG)
8 Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. 9 You can count on this. Take it to heart.
A few things are to be queried here, why would Paul give such counsel to a young man like Timothy? What were his routines? I believe that Timothy was a physically fit young man who often works out. He must have had six packs like some of us. Paul's advice paves a way for me think that there two kinds of workouts, Push Up and Push Down, and my focus will be on the former.
Push Up is the only required exercise that a believer is expected to do daily. You may wonder why and how. Let me do a little bit of exegetical studies to establish my claims. Wuest’s New Testaments nicely renders the same verses:
1 Timothy 4:6-8 (Wuest NT)
On the other hand, be exercising yourself with a view to piety toward God. For the aforementioned bodily exercise is of some small profit, but the aforementioned piety toward God is profitable with respect to all things, holding a promise of this present life and of that about to come.
You may be bothered to ask, why should we push up? Jesus says no one receives anything unless it is given from above (up). The word “above” is translated from the Greek word, “ano”, which means upward or on the top that is brim, high, up. And James writes that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights…” Here is the killer, in the epistle of Paul to the Colossians where he tells them to Push Up admonishing them to “set their affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” It is imperative that we are to push up and never to push down. In another epistle, he tells of how he does his “push up” to the Philippians, thus: I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
You cannot push up, first, if you are not physically and spiritual fit, and to be fit, you must push up. So, you see, I have come to the conclusion that based on the things written concerning me, I just have to look the way I am in order to accomplish God’s purpose from my life. The biceps and triceps, pectoralis major and minor, to name a few, have to be hypertrophied to help me fit into God’s plan for me in order to eventually push up, which is the main thing.
Finally, let’s PUSH UP!
Elvis C. Umez
#PurposeConsultant
As I continue to ponder on the many activities associated with how Christian faith should be pursued, it becomes obvious to me that some of the questions in my heart are becoming very audible, even to the passerby. One of them is fitness. What should be the right perspective to it? I love to work out in the gym, and many times I get worried by some of the comments I get from people, like, “stop being carnal”, “stop doing the things of the flesh”, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood”, etc. As I consider these, I begin to lose interest, but then, I need to be fit in order to fulfill God’s purpose for my life. Yes, I mean, physically fit. Imagine if Jesus was not a carpenter, would he have been able to carry the cross? I believe, Jesus was a macho man with well-developed muscles following the way he was raised. And Luke records, “…Jesus increased in wisdom and stature…” showing His level of physical fitness before launching into His assignment. He was fit all round, spirit, soul and body.
Interestingly, I find in one of the epistles, Paul’s letter to his protégé, Timothy, thus:
1 Timothy 4:8-10 (MSG)
8 Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. 9 You can count on this. Take it to heart.
A few things are to be queried here, why would Paul give such counsel to a young man like Timothy? What were his routines? I believe that Timothy was a physically fit young man who often works out. He must have had six packs like some of us. Paul's advice paves a way for me think that there two kinds of workouts, Push Up and Push Down, and my focus will be on the former.
Push Up is the only required exercise that a believer is expected to do daily. You may wonder why and how. Let me do a little bit of exegetical studies to establish my claims. Wuest’s New Testaments nicely renders the same verses:
1 Timothy 4:6-8 (Wuest NT)
On the other hand, be exercising yourself with a view to piety toward God. For the aforementioned bodily exercise is of some small profit, but the aforementioned piety toward God is profitable with respect to all things, holding a promise of this present life and of that about to come.
You may be bothered to ask, why should we push up? Jesus says no one receives anything unless it is given from above (up). The word “above” is translated from the Greek word, “ano”, which means upward or on the top that is brim, high, up. And James writes that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights…” Here is the killer, in the epistle of Paul to the Colossians where he tells them to Push Up admonishing them to “set their affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” It is imperative that we are to push up and never to push down. In another epistle, he tells of how he does his “push up” to the Philippians, thus: I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
You cannot push up, first, if you are not physically and spiritual fit, and to be fit, you must push up. So, you see, I have come to the conclusion that based on the things written concerning me, I just have to look the way I am in order to accomplish God’s purpose from my life. The biceps and triceps, pectoralis major and minor, to name a few, have to be hypertrophied to help me fit into God’s plan for me in order to eventually push up, which is the main thing.
Finally, let’s PUSH UP!
Elvis C. Umez
#PurposeConsultant
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