Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.—1 Corinthians 6:15-20.
Tonight, I’d like to write a little about exercise and taking care of one’s self/one’s body. But I’m going to write about it from a perspective that will, most likely, be very different from the perspectives embraced by our culture.
Our culture is in love with the human form in all its grandeur and perfection. And that same culture teaches that, if we fall short—even by just a little bit—of what is considered beautiful, we are somehow less for it.
That, my friends, is tragic and, if I may be so bold, exquisite [fill-in-the-blank-with-colorful-metaphor]!!!
Anyway…if such really WERE the case than blind people would never fall in love, and yet they do all the time. And, I would surmise, for probably far healthier reasons than many of us do. Spiritual and emotional connection, friendship and respect, genuine companionship, and attraction to the beauty of another person's inner qualities are a few such reasons that come to mind. Sure…to have beauty or to gaze upon it is nice, and it is, of course, a gift to be enjoyed, but not one to be worshiped. As the scriptures teach...
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.—Proverbs 31:30
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.—Proverbs 31:26
She is worth more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.—Proverbs 30:10b-12
Of course, I could go on. Even though the above is directed at women, similar—albeit different—things can be directed at men, too.
My point in all of this is that what our culture teaches is, essentially, unobtainable for most of us.
Even for many of those who do obtain it. (Or seem to have obtained it.)
Sure, you’ve got a 30” bicep, but your wife and kids rarely see you because you spend two- to three-hours most every evening at the gym.
Yeah, so you’re 5’-9,” and you wear a size 2. Not to be snide, but as Chris Farley might have said: “Well, loddy-freakin-dah!” My question is this: When was the last time you ate, my friend? And, I mean, like ate a real meal? Last week? Last month?! By my calendar, that would have been AT LEAST 22 days ago. (Note: It is well understood by me that not all 5'-9", size 2, women are anorectic, etc. Only those who are, and if you are such person, please know that I cannot feel anything but great compassion and empathy toward you.)
Many of us in America are killing ourselves through diet and obsessive exercise in our striving to obtain that which is fleeting and, in most instance, unattainable. At least, healthily. There is, as some have said, no anatomically upright "Barbies" in real life or "GI-Joes" who can actually move their necks. To me—and this is JUST ME talking—all of this just feels a lot like suicide in progress. Laxatives, hydroxycut, steroids, starvation dieting (or frequent "fasting” if you’re a Christian and want to sanitize your addiction), purging, excessive body-building, chronic cardio training…it doesn’t look so good, you know?
And then there are those among us who rarely do anything. In the end, that, too, is suicide in progress. Obesity, Type II Diabetes, heart disease, hypertension…I could, of course, go on.
May I suggest something?
Of course, Dave! (Good answer, y’all.)
I’d like to suggest that both of the above approaches to caring (or, rather, not caring for oneself) are unhealthy attempts to deal with the feelings of loneliness that ALL of us experience regularly.
Despite what some may say, all of us are alone. There is no one on earth who really knows what’s going on inside you—even you, sometimes. There’s no one on earth who really understands your pain or your joy or that “get’s it about you” fully or all the time. No one.
Yes, you are alone. And so am I.
When faced with our aloneness, we can, basically, choose one of two things:
(1) We can let our desire to not feel lonely (because feeling lonely kind of sucks, you know?) drive us to try and fill that loneliness with things that seem to take away such feelings—at least momentarily. Whether it’s taking drugs, having sex, practicing religion, drinking alcohol, spending money, exercising until we drop, masturbating, watching TV, viewing pornography until all hours of the night, or just napping incessantly, it’s all pretty much the same.
(2) We can embrace our aloneness through practicing what I and many others like to call "solitude." And that is, the practice of embracing all the feelings of aloneness and loneliness and the longings for love, acceptance, and unconditional companionship and the practice staying with those feeling and NOT running to our usual escapes.
In my life, I have discovered that exercise is one (among many) of the practices of solitude that helps me to stay right here and now with what I’m feeling and, through such “staying,” to get in touch with who I am. And, I mean, with who I really am...in my most primal sense. With those mammalian parts of me that have, through aggressive sophistication, been orphaned off into who knows where.
To me, there’s nothing like hitting the open road for a late evening run or going for an early Saturday morning hike or messing with a pile of iron or going at it with my heavy bag. I do these things because they help me to get in touch with me. To feel like me. And to embrace who I am as a wondrous child of the Most High God. A God Who created me with exuberant impulses to move and to thoroughly and completely enjoy such movement.
Circling back around to 1 Corinthians 6 above...I can, in my hunger to ease my loneliness, unite my members with a prostituting culture and, of my own accord, prostitute myself and, in turn, become a prostitute in such doings. Or, I can learn to feel my hunger, be okay with it, and engage in things—healthy things, like exercise—that help me to remain connected with me and, through such connectedness, enjoy the life and body God gave me.
That, my friends, is, in and of itself, greatly honoring to God.
Okay…I would like to write more on this, but, alas, it's past my bed time.
Keep reading, my friends; we’ll talk more about this soon.
God’s peace to all’y’all…
Daver
