4 Habits for Your Physical & Spiritual Fitness | FIT FAITH

Lightly edited transcript:

So the question is: What are some habits that can be applied to our spiritual fitness and our physical fitness?

At the end of the day, I'm going to be sharing what I do, how I pursue Jesus, and how I pursue fitness.

Let me read this passage to you – I think it’s pretty important. Hebrews chapter 12, it says in verse 11: "For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees."

I love that because I think that it really resonates with me because I don’t love discipline. I bet you that you don’t love it either. We love the fruit that it’s going to produce. I enjoy working out. I enjoy pursuing fitness, but it’s hard. It’s really hard and it’s painful.

The same thing is true with our spiritual lives. When it comes to disciplining ourselves and making sure that we have this consistent relationship with God, it is tough. There are so many things that distract us and want to pull our attention away – good things that pull our mind and our hearts away. But we are going not just for the sake of discipline; we're not disciplining ourselves so that we can be disciplined. We’re disciplining ourselves because we see the end in mind. We know where we’re trying to go. We know who we want to become and who God is shaping us to be. And the only way that we’re going to get there is through discipline.

So let me share with you some of my habits that I think correlate really well between spiritual fitness and physical fitness.

So the first thing is consistency. We have to be consistent physically if we’re going to get stronger. Spiritually, it’s the same thing. We’re told in the Scriptures to pray without ceasing. We need to have consistent time every day that you seek the Lord. That’s the only way you’re going to grow. If you do it for ten minutes today, and ten minutes in six months... I mean, imagine if you’re trying to get stronger and you do five pushups today, and then next month you do ten, and then the next month you do four... You’re not really going to get stronger. You’ll just end up getting sore every single month. Consistency is where you see results.

The second thing is to start small, but start somewhere. So again, thinking physical and spiritual. Maybe you can’t bench press your body weight. That’s ok. Start somewhere. Everybody has somewhere they can start. So you’re not ready to read the Bible in one day? Great! Start by reading a verse, start by reading a chapter, start by reading three chapters. Doesn’t matter where you are, just matters that you start somewhere. Start small and then, remember number one, be consistent.

Number three: get something out of it. Don’t just workout so that you can just check the box. Don’t just workout to say that “I worked out today.” Don’t just workout so that you can post it on Instagram. Workout so that you get stronger. The same thing is true for our spiritual lives. Maybe your habit is going to be you’re going to read a chapter of the Bible every day, every morning. Don’t just read it so that you can say,“I read my Bible today.” Read it and expect God to speak. If this really is His word, if He really wants to communicate to His people, then read it and expect Him to do that. And He will. Work to get something out of it, not just to say you did it.

And the final thing is: work hard every day. So you don’t just go to the gym and do two pushups and three situps and then you go home for the day. You actually put work in; that’s how you’re going to get stronger. And the same thing is true for our spiritual lives. Work hard every day. Work hard as if not just your life, but eternity depends on it. Because it does. Because God's going to breathe life, hope, and grace into you that you can flow into others. God’s going to bring people across your path that absolutely are going to need the specific word that God gave to you today. So don’t neglect that time. Don’t neglect the time physically and then also don’t neglect the time spiritually. Your heart needs it and people that God’s going to bring into your life need that word from the Lord that’s going to come through you.