Gym Rats and Chunkers

I decided to take some time off from blogging.  I tend to over-think things and I was spending so much time writing blogs that it was stressing me out.  I know that I only made it through chapter 1 of Romans, but honestly I have a very hard time hitting publish until I feel very good about what I've written.  We have an hour of staff prayer on Tuesdays and Fridays and I found that blogging for a couple hours and then going to staff prayer was spiritually taxing.  I was exhausted before I even started my day at work and Tuesday is typically my sermon prep day.  Let's just say I'm not there yet.  I love Jesus and I love spending time in his Word, but I'm a little A.D.D. and I decided I needed a different approach. 

 

This past month Laura and I joined a gym (LA Fitness) in Edina.  On Wednesdays and Thursdays, I get up at 5am so I can go to spin class or on mornings like today when the class gets canceled, I put some time in on the treadmill.  I usually get home around 7:15 and I don't leave for work until 8:45.  That gives me some time to sit down with a cup of coffee write a blog in totally distraction-free silence.  So, with that in mind I'm going to attempt to write 1-3 blogs a week and we'll see how that works out.

 

From the very first moment I entered LA Fitness, I was in full evaluation mode.  That is the way analytical people like me work.  I'm not proud of it, I'm just self-aware.  I had pretty much made my decision that we were going to join this gym.  I had gone online and done the research, checked the pricing, and checked the features.  It was exactly what we were looking for.  There was just one element that I needed to see before I signed on the dotted line...the people.  It may seem shallow, but I wanted to be working out in an environment where people are fit and healthy.  We toured the building during the busiest time of the week.  The staff were all young and in great shape.  As we walked past the spin bike room there was a class going on with mostly thin people dripping wet with sweat.  We walked through the weights area where guys with biceps the size of my legs were doing curls.  There was a cardio class going on in the studio and some guys playing racquetball on the courts.  As we walked past the huge row of bikes, treadmills, and elliptical machines, I saw some heavier set individuals, but primarily thin people and some pretty serious runners.  There were some guys playing basketball in the gym.  I have no doubt that if I were to jump in, I would be one of the worst players on the court with these guys.  They were extremely athletic and pretty good ball players.  

 

You may be thinking that I'm being hypocritical.  After all, I'm not exactly Mr. Fitness.  The fact remains that if I am going to spend my money to go to a gym on a regular basis, I want to be in an environment that is going to foster good fitness.  When I get on the treadmill and I'm feeling less than motivated, I don't want to look at the 400 lb guy who gets sweaty from lifting his hot dog to his face, thinking at least I'm not that guy.  I want to see the guy with 4% body fat running 6 minute miles and have hope that his level of fitness is out there for me.

 

Not only is it easy to judge the gym as a whole, but I find my self judging individuals as well.  You can pretty much size up a person in the gym in about 30 seconds.   There are the model/athlete types that drink green protein shakes for dessert and wash their clothes on their abs.  There are the thin, non athletic types who come to walk on a treadmill twice a week, eat a max of 600 calories in a day, only wear skinny jeans and t-shirts, and weigh less than 46lbs.  There are the guys like me that used to be athletic at one time and are trying to get back in shape.  There are the average individuals or post-pregnancy moms that are trying to maintain their weight or drop a few pounds.  There are the serious body builders that have a huge chest, big arms, tiny little legs, and usually a little bit of a gut because they like their beer and pizza.   And of course there are the massively overweight chunkers that got inspired by "The Biggest Loser" and need to drop over 100 lbs.  

As judgmental as that sounds, how much worse are we in our churches today.  At least when you judge someones fitness, you judge something that is primarily external.  When you judge someone's spiritual condition, you are attempting to judge the heart and that is impossible to do.

 

Romans 2:1-4

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? 


Paul makes it simple: If you want to see people come to know Christ, show them love.  You don't know the condition of their heart.  In fact, God knew the condition of  your heart before you surrendered your life to Christ and in spite of that, he sent his son to die for your sins and continues to forgive you when you mess up over and over again.  

We do have a responsibility to hold our brothers and sisters in Christ accountable to the decision that they've made to follow Christ.  That being said, our job is to address sin and let the Holy Spirit do the convicting.  When we judge someone else's heart, we end up making assumptions based on our own experience.  Judging leads to gossip and slander, and as Paul says, it even bring God's judgment on ourselves.  When you find yourself judging other people, think about what God has forgiven in your life.  That almost always works for me.  I've been forgiven of so much.  In fact, self-evaluation is great way to keep anyone from judging, because when you realize what God has forgiven in your life, it's much easier to demonstrate Christ's love and kindness.