Christianity: An Aerobic Faith?
After all, you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let this endurance complete its work so that you may be fully mature, complete, and lacking in nothing. (James 1:3–4 CEB)
Recently at a yard sale, I picked up an old paperback copy of the original Aerobics program that was developed by Dr. Kenneth Cooper for the U.S. Air Force in the 1960’s. Aerobics is an exercise program that is intended to build up your cardiovascular system…and keep you there. The human body is an oxygen-pumping machine and like any other machine, the greater the efficiency, the better the results. Aerobics has clinically and empirically determined how to rate the efficiency of your machine, or to put it in common language, what it means to be in “good shape”. Because I had convinced myself that I was gravitating towards becoming a lazy slob (a body at rest tends to stay at rest—remember your basic Physics?), I was anxious to dive into the program. The impetus for this dive was based loosely on a faint memory I hold that in some distant past in a galaxy far, far away, I was somewhat of an athlete at one time. That’s why I was dismayed recently during a trip to Washington D.C. that I was actually getting mildly winded whilst trekking up museum steps. I had visions that I could leap and bound like Rocky Balboa, singing “Gonna Fly Now” at the top of my lungs; alas, it was not to be. So I took the initial 12-minute Aerobics test and found that I was in Category 2. Category 1 is the chain-smoking, booze-swilling individuals whose exercise routine is limited to switching hands on the TV remote, while Category 4 are the guys who run five miles a day in under an hour while whistling and reading the newspaper on their Kindles. The purpose of the program is recognize your current shape (your Category) and to slowly but surely, through the use of a unique point system, increase your heart’s ability to pump oxygen at a sustained rate for a sustained period. I found the book intriguing so I have begun the program…and boy, am I sore. But I am not a pansy so I will endure the initial pain to gain the benefits: better sleep, more energy, greater well-being, and regular metabolism (you old folks know what that means).
It occurred to me that our Christian faith is like an Aerobics program. How many times have we orchestrated bursts of Christian learning, building our enthusiasm and joy in the Lord, only to slack in times of testing and trouble and wobbling backwards to a Category 1. Instead of maintaining our regular study of the Word, we go lengthy spells where we don’t even open the family Bible and miss church services at whim. As a result, we become winded when facing the slightest resistance.
The benefits, the fruits, of becoming a mature Christian are astonishing. To face every obstacle of life with the strength of the Spirit dwelling within you is a magnificent achievement. To know Jesus on an intimate basis is a foundation far greater than any earthly support system or exercise program. Try to find a study program, or a series of books, or a group of podcasts that you can routinely contemplate. Pray about it. Build yourself and become the strong and enduring Christian you were meant to be!
Dear Heavenly Father,
Guide us to have the willpower and the discipline to be the best that we can be at whatever we choose. But above all, make us ardent and enduring disciples of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Contributed by Donald
Monday July 2, 2012
Liturgical Year B: Week 32
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading:
Lectionary 13 (Proper 8)
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost