You Will
When the naysayers said to Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Arnold, we never want to look like you," he famously quipped, "Don't worry. You never will." My younger self chuckles, because on the surface that's one of the best replies I've ever heard. But then again, it's not the surface I'm worried about.
Thing is, honoring God with our bodies has nothing to do with the size and shape of muscle. If you think about it, our eyes are part of the body. So what we look at or avoid, what we notice, what we see, what we LIKE on social media, and what we don't look at, that's honor. Our ears too, can't forget those. What we discipline ourselves to listen to, and when we cover our ears to gossip, when we choose to miss a workout to listen to somebody's hurts, that's honoring God with the body. And the tongue, oh man, our words. Talk about honor God! What we say, who we say it to, the topic of discussion, just name it; to say nothing about the time we take to actually talk to Him!
Biceps? Not about circumference, but about picking up your brother. Triceps? Not about what you can pressdown, but about extending the arms to serve, to help, to shake hands, to wipe tears, point directions, and wave hello. (I could go on, but I'll spare you.) Cover your ears Arnold, but any amount of muscle we have should serve to enable us to get where God needs us to be so we can honor Him with the body.
I think that's why Paul - inspired by God - urged us to train in godliness above all. And as I sit here thinking about it, when we train in godliness, spending time in God's word, on our knees in prayer, listening to worship music or Christian lyrics, we're training to look just like Jesus. To think like Him. Walk where He would walk. Talk like He would have us talk. It's a divine twist, right? The purpose of our health is to make much of Jesus, but it's when we eventually lose that health that we'll finally see why: Him. And in that moment, we'll look just like Him. We'll forgive just like Him. We'll extend grace JUST LIKE HIM. We'll be everything we trained for; that's glory.
When we say, "Jesus, we want to look just like you." He says, "Don't worry, you will."
-Jimmy Peña
For Discussion: Anyone ready for heaven to make sense of earth? What does it mean to you to look "just like Jesus." Is that your goal when you hit the gym? The studio? The road? Share your thoughts. What would you DO - if you accomplished your goals? You know, I don't go back in time that often, but above are a couple of shots from one of my last training days over 8 years ago taken for a photo shoot. A year or so later, doctors told me I'd never train the same again because of a genetic degenerative spinal disorder. The pics are literally from one of my last days in the gym. But truth be told, that's actually when my body started to work.
The iPrayFit Project So much in store, kids. As you heard from last week, we are donating all of the iPrayFit memberships to charity beginning next month. So all the dues that you as members donate each month will go to worthy causes; from building wells, donating wheelchairs, sending bicycles. More of that to come, but we are actively interviewing for internships for the iPrayFit Project, so reach out if you are website savvy, social media meaty and pretty much love PrayFit. Or...if you just want to give to charity while being a member of iPrayFit, join us. Things are about to get fun.
