By Lindsey Strickler, FAITH RXD Marketing and Media Director, average athlete, and dedicated fitness enthusiast.
FITNESS WORKOUT
The Mindset
Today it’s all about just showing up. The fact that you’re here and about to do this workout is huge. We’re going to keep it simple, and do a workout that has only three movements and only requires a barbell and some plates. If you don’t have that, you can substitute with dumbbells, or a sandbag, or an odd object from around your house.
Stay committed to the work, and don’t give up. It’s going to be tempting too as you get deeper into the rounds.
The Workout
The Chief
Five 3 minute AMRAPs in 19 Minutes
3 Power Cleans (135/95 lbs)
6 Push Ups
9 Squats
Rest 1 Minute
Repeat 5 times.
FAITH WORKOUT
Reading
2 Peter 1:5-8
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Message
For this first FAITH + FITNESS WORKOUT on Discipline, I want to expand on an amazing FAITH Workout of the Day that Phil Woody, one of our community leaders, wrote. The title of his devotion was, “Just Show Up!” He said:
“One thing I love about CrossFit is how it builds upon itself. The only thing it requires is for an athlete to just show up. Think about when you started, you just showed up. And when you showed up your were taught by a coach how to move functionally, the base of what we do. You didn’t have to be perfect, have any previous level of fitness or athletic training in the past.
“Every time you showed up, you understood more, moved better, and began to feel better while moving. As you did, something happened. Your faith began to grow and develop. Your faith in your coach as you moved better and faster. Your faith in the community as joy began to grow around those who suffered and rejoiced along-side of you. Your belief in the methodology of CrossFit as you saw your results. And Your faith in yourself as your mindset moved from disbelief to belief.
“What if developing spiritual discipline, though not easy, was this simple. You just show up. Show up to your quiet time. Show up to worship service at church. Show up to the small group experience with other believers in Jesus where you process the heart of Jesus together. Show up to the feet of Jesus calling you to a deeper more intimate relationship with him. Adding to your faith, might just be as simple as showing up. It’s true for your fitness and it’s true for your life in Jesus. Just show up.”
Let’s expand on that. Phil discussed showing up to a quiet time, to church, and to small groups. These are three of the common spiritual disciplines used to grow stronger in our faith. In our last FAITH + FITNESS Workout on Strength, we talked about how I was terrible at handstand walking when I started CrossFit, so after class, I began spending 5-10 minutes on accessory work geared specifically towards getting better at handstands. That was an expression of discipline, right?
We’re told in the dictionary that discipline is an “activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training.”
One of the most popular phrases we hear about discipline is from by Navy Seal, Jocko Willink, “Discipline equals freedom.” He expanded on that in an interview and said, “While Discipline and Freedom seem like they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum, they are actually very connected. Freedom is what everyone wants — to be able to act and live with freedom. But the only way to get to a place of freedom is through discipline. If you want financial freedom, you have to have financial discipline. If you want more free time, you have to follow a more disciplined time management system. You also have to have the discipline to say ‘No’ to things that eat up your time with no payback—things like random YouTube videos, click-bait on the internet, and even events that you agree to attend when you know you won’t want to be there. Discipline equals freedom applies to every aspect of life: if you want more freedom, get more discipline.”
The same is true for having discipline in our spiritual life as well. The more we just show up and practice spiritual discipline, the more we grow, the more God moves in our lives, and the more freedom we experience. Life can be chaotic around us, but we can still thrive internally.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 tells us just that, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Other practical spiritual disciplines we can put into practice in addition to quiet times, church, and small groups are memorizing Bible verses, journaling, stewardship of time, solitude, private worship, prayer, confession, fasting, caring for your body, and being in community. Now don’t look at this list and get overwhelmed. Just pick one or two and become consistent. Then as those become part of your routine, begin integrating others.
We have a lifetime to learn and grow, but we don’t want to drag our feet. We want to be intentional. We want to start showing up and letting God take care of the rest. “…for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13
QUESTIONS FOR GROUP DISCUSSION OR PERSONAL JOURNALING:
- What was the workout like for you? Did God reveal anything to you while you did it?
- How do you struggle having discipline in your life?
- Is there a specific discipline you’ve been wanting to begin practicing, that you need to accept God’s strength to press into?
- What ways were you challenged by in today’s message?
