gym

Going to the gym always seem to get my mind thinking while my blood is pumping. I was on the bike listening to preaching on my ipod, when a thought struck me.
Why are we on treadmills or bikes going nowhere, while watching TV’s and shows that communicate nothing. In front of every piece of equipment is a TV. That just seemed crazy to me. How ironic. I had written earlier about being on equipment that went nowhere, but today my thought is while going nowhere we are watching things that communicate nothing and then wonder why our souls do not feel better.
We go to the gym and work on our “flesh”, but does our soul feel any better? We have spent an hour or so trying to burn off fat, build muscle on machines that go nowhere, while watching and feeding our souls nothing. I looked around at the numerous people who were locked into a Oprah, a soap opera, an entertainment show or even CNN and thought to myself “why?”. What would it take for us to get off the machines and unplug from the worthless pleasures and plug up to that which feeds our soul?
Don’t misunderstand, I am still going to the gym and not knocking on that. However, it is such a word picture for our culture. We are so placated by the idea of going nowhere and communicating nothing that we actually think we are doing something and taking in mass amounts of something, simply because we think activity denotes progress.
Just because we are busy and taking in information doesn’t mean it is productive. We spend an enormous amount of time listening to and repeating things that mean nothing but make us feel important because we think we know something because we heard something. We spend a ton of time in activity thinking it is getting us where we want, but instead is getting us no where.
Ecclesiastes addresses these thoughts. Solomon writes that striving after such things is like striving after the wind and will gain us nothing in the long run, because there is no enjoyment without Him. (2:25) Solomon describes life for those who are pursuing this life as vanity of vanities and states that thinking that “what the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. This too is futility and striving after the wind.”
We spend our days full of activity that is merely striving after the wind, on treadmills going nowhere and gaining knowledge that communicates nothing. Perhaps we should not set our minds to know the things of this life (1:13), but instead set our hearts on eternity (3:11). Do you think we are striving after the wrong things…and need to change what we fear and pursue? Solomon ends with “the conclusion, when all has been heard is: “fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether good or evil.” (12:14)
If we spent as much time determined to know Christ and Him crucified, perhaps our souls would be in better shape than our bodies.
ALL FOR YOU