Surrendered or Committed
Surrendered or committed. Which are you? Which am I? Depending on the day, I’m both (and neither) which scares me a little. But when it comes to drawing a line between being committed or surrendered, I thought I’d look to an old favorite of mine…A.W. Tozer. Might as well go to Cooperstown, right?
Imagine a little boy stepping into the batter's box to face Nolan Ryan in game 7 of the World Series. An oversized helmet hangs over his little eyes as he tries to hit a 100mph pitch with a baseball bat he can hardly lift off the ground. Got the visual? Good. That's how I feel as I sit down to wrap my brain around the word “Surrender” using A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God.
Although, it's actually not the entire work I'll be taking a swing at, it's just one chapter. Well, I say "chapter" but it's really just a few pages of the chapter. Ok, fine. Let's call it a few lines from a couple of pages of one chapter. Batter up, kid.
So here’s the pitch. There is a “blessedness of possessing nothing;” which for our sake means surrendering even muscle, endurance, strength, breath, and life. Now, that’s major. Commitment on the other hand is minor leagues. Slow pitch stuff.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love commitment. LOVE it. It takes ability, it takes motivation, it takes guts, the drive and a thousand other gifts; traits I still have despite progressive limits.
But picture it. A thousand workouts ago, I remember breathing the chalk into my lungs and the taste of salty sweat on my lips under teeth marks to boot as I tightened my belt about my waist. Got the visual? I was committed. I held one of the most coveted positions in all of fitness publishing. Best-selling books lined my library. I was devout. Sounds almost sacrilegious to say, but training was my Isaac. My everything. Tell me to sacrifice it though, and I was no Abraham. No way was I going to forfeit the gym.
So with that said, if you have a belt, put it on. Or if you have a mouthpiece, put that in. Because listen to what Tozer says:
”In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and "things" were allowed to enter. Within the human heart "things" have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.
There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets "things" with a deep and fierce passion. The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet up lest we die.”
Please feel free to read and re-read that from Tozer and connect it to your passion for fitness, or the gym or to “progress.” Progress - of course - has become the tolerated, admirable idol. Even in my broken state, with my mortality in mind and my frailty in frame, my health competes for the crown of my heart. Am I alone? Have the roots of fitness or progress grown down into your soul so deep that if you were to pull them up you think you’d die? If so, I understand. And it’s during this week of Thanksgiving that we can recalibrate that.
Are we committed to health or have we surrendered our health? There is a difference. What does that mean to you?
- Jimmy Peña
For Discussion: Does this entry deserve a part two? I think it does. In an effort to keep it brief, I held back so many thoughts. Anybody mind if I keep going? Hope not.
GEARING UP FOR #GIVINGTUESDAY
Speaking of surrender, PrayFit presents "The Body" - a community of determined, generous, and passionate fitness-minded people like you giving anything they can to serve those with special needs. With #GivingTuesday fast-approaching, we pray you'll join us by giving $2/mo (just $2) and encourage others to do the same. You can start today.
