One must be careful not to exercise for the wrong reasons, I have to watch myself and ask myself regularly “why am I doing this.” God created us to Glorify Him and I pray that in all I do would magnify His name Spirit, Body and Soul!

My intent in this post wasn’t to create a biblical mandate out of exercise. It’s not a sin to not exercise, and I’m not going to keep exercise accountability tabs on my caregroup members. I was more trying to put exercise into the big picture of eternity, namely that exercise may be a way to help us serve the Lord more effectively by extending the years of our life.

In terms of 1 Cor 10:31, you’re right, exercise isn’t inherently godly. But in this passage Paul is talking about eating, and he concludes his discussion with the sweeping statement about eating, drinking, and all other things being done for the glory of God. He takes a small subject, eating, and then blows it wide open, saying that all things should be done for the glory of God. Life should be lived for the glory of God. In my mind, exercise, while not a mandate, can be be very helpful in living for the glory of God.

I don’t think 1 Tim 4:8 is creating a dichotomy between exercise and godliness. It seems more that Paul is saying that exercise is of some value, but godliness is infinitely more value.

Those are just my thoughts. Thanks for searching the scriptures and seeking to not go beyond scripture.

Anyway, I had some thoughts on this post (old though it may be), and I was hoping to get your insights on them:

“Nowhere in the Bible will you find a scripture that says, “You must exercise three times a week….’”

That’s very true, and it ought to be a warning against our trying to make some sort of rule—or even recommendation—one way or the other. Right?

“But we do read in 1 Corinthians 10:31, ‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’” Every minute of our lives is to be lived for the glory of God, and exercise is a wonderful means of helping us live for the glory of God. How? By extending our years of service to God, and by making us more effective in serving the Lord.

“So let me encourage you to exercise…because God’s glory is at stake.”

Hmm… I think, if you read that verse again in its fuller context, it seems that Paul’s intent was to discourage such “option ‘a’ is more godly than option ‘b’” arguments regarding certain matters (”For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?” v.29). In fact I’m quite confident that Paul’s statement in verse 31, correctly applied to the matter of exercise, would be “whether you jog or eat Big Macs, do it to glorify God.”

See, Paul was saying that the person who engages in a particular activity and the person who abstains both do right if their aim in partaking or abstaining is God’s glory. Exercise is not automatically glorifying to God, as your examples seem to imply (”We lace up our running shoes and pound the pavement so that we can serve God effectively”). On the contrary, many who exercise do it for self-centered, materialistic or even sexually immoral reasons. This is why Paul said, “&hellispe;whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”: because we can very easily do these things without once taking His glory into account.

My deepest concern here is that you’ve taken a “good idea” that’s without Biblical mandate, and essentially created a new tool by which to judge our brothers and sisters (”Susie, I and the other ladies in Care Group noticed you haven’t been going to the gym for a few months…”). If Scripture is silent on the matter, then we ought to follow its example.

That’s the funny thing, though: there is a passage that specifically speak of exercise in relation to godliness, and I was actually shocked to not find in your post (as it seemed a no-brainer for this topic)! I was hoping you could weigh in on it (no pun intended):

“Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” — 1 Timothy 4:8 (ESV)

It seems to me that Paul is not only saying that exercise doesn’t inherently glorify God, but he even seems to imply that it’s at odds with pursuing God’s glory! That sounds a lot different from the conclusion you’ve arrived at here, but maybe I’m just not properly connecting the dots. Could you help me see what I’m not seeing? Thanks!

God is in every area of our lives– often times, we are just too busy to take notice. Thanks for reminding us to be good stewards over our temples.

SO glad you enjoyed the post. I’ll make sure to keep an eye on your blog as well. God is kind to give us exercise isn’t he?

This is great! I don’t know if you know but I have a blog about fitness. Check it out if you get a chance! It’ll be linked as my name. I will make sure to feature this article! I love it when I see people who aren’t in the fitness field and who are Christians encouraging other Christians to exercise and care for their bodies- even if it’s minimal. I have a little training program going on right now. I’m going to relaunch it in April so I’ll make sure to let you and Mark know more as it comes closer!

With Joy,

Trillia