Across the world there are very few communities that are truly founded on acceptance and love. In many CrossFit gyms across the world you can find this exact environment. CrossFit’s mantra is being able to scale the workouts for all people at all times. The whole concept behind CrossFit is that it’s a fitness lifestyle that anybody can be accepted into. CrossFit gyms all over the world create small communities that are ideally bent on uplifting and encouraging one another in their pursuit of personal health. An accepting environment that takes on and loves people where they’re at for who they are regardless of past lifestyle choices or decisions is critical to establishing a lifelong pursuit of fitness in the CrossFit community.
This idea of acceptance and love based on no merit of your own regardless of background is not a new idea. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 we read that Christ, sent by God, took on our sinfulness and traded it for His righteousness. He did this such that we could be accepted into the kingdom of God. We could not work for that gift and we could not earn that gift. He simply gave it to us regardless of our sin and our immense depravity.
God accepts us into His kingdom as co-heirs with Christ and heirs to his throne. We see this explicitly written in Romans 8. He adopts us as His own sons and daughters on the merit of Jesus. This is the perfect model for acceptance that we often see shadows of in a CrossFit gym. Only God has the ability to accept us without bias or discrimination. Our flesh and sin make it impossible for us. However, from time to time, we will experience a glimpse of the acceptance we have in Christ.
In some CrossFit gyms we experience this. In some churches we experience this. In many of our families we experience this type of blind, unconditional acceptance. All of those scenarios should point us to the complete acceptance we have in the kingdom of God as sons and daughters of God through Christ’s sacrifice. He is the reason we are accepted, and therefore his work on our behalf is our only boast.