The FAITH portion of our workout was written by Jadi Rodriguez, FAITH RXD Interim Executive Director and member of the Board of Directors. The FITNESS portion was programmed by Anthony Davis, Games Athlete and FAITH RXD Coach.
FITNESS WORKOUT
The Mindset
We want your mindset today to be on the rep scheme and movements. Specifically, how they reflect our scripture of reading. The one heavy deadlift represents Christ, the one and only lamb who could atone for our sins on the cross. The heavy weight is a reminder of the weight of our sins. The grip reminds us how hard we should be holding on to Jesus. The handstand push-ups remind us of the upside-down reality that God dwelled amongst His creation and was rejected. The toes to bar work our core and remind us that the core of our faith is our love for our Savior and how that should be lived out by loving one another.
The Workout
11 min AMRAP
1 Deadlift 315/225
4 HSPU
7 TTB
FAITH WORKOUT
Reading
1 John 4:7-11 ESV
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Message
Love is not love. Society is enamored with taking the biblical and redefining it. God is love! And it’s time we go on the offense as Christians and start taking back the definitions the world has taken from us.
This April marks Easter, and no more appropriate month to discuss love. And if God is love, then anything outside of God cannot be love. Most theologians refer to this as total depravity. The inability to even recognize God, much less love Him.
In FAITH RXD we have ‘The Path of Champions” to help us identify where we are in our faith. It is here, apart from God’s love, that we find the spectator.
The spectator has not come to the Lord. Like those who watch CrossFit but are not participating, the spectator in faith is merely watching love, unable to participate other than just receive.
A shocking revelation when I first confronted it. Can a nonbeliever know what love is? Can they love?
In short? No.
If we do not love something through Jesus, we are missing the mark of what love truly is.
Matthew 22:37-40 ESV
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Just like fitness has certain principles, so does our faith.
Can you name the most crucial principle of CrossFit? I would argue its intensity.
For our faith, scripture tells us the most critical component is that we love God first and foremost. And while Jesus does not necessarily say it like this, then and only then can you fulfill the next component of loving your neighbor as you love yourself. For how can you love one another if you know not what love is and how it is demonstrated?
In our reading of 1 John 4:10, “In this is love” is better translated to “this is love.” And thus, our reading tells us that love is not us loving God first, but instead it is that He sent Jesus to be the appeasing of our sins.
Love is essentially recognized when we recognize the grace of Jesus on the cross. And we should never love anything, not our spouses, not our children, and indeed not anything material, more than God.
When it comes to fitness and our communities, this recognition of God’s grace drives us to love stewarding our bodies as temples and loving on our gym and church communities.
1 John 4:11 ESV
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
And there it is. Ultimately, if God loved us, what other choice do we have? That starts by telling people about Jesus and what He has done for us.
Do you remember when you first fell in love with CrossFit? You could not wait to tell people all about it. In fact, there are plenty of memes and jokes about just how insufferable CrossFitters are because they just won’t shut up about CrossFit.
Why can’t we?!
I believe it’s because we want to share the gift of fitness with those we care about. We want others to join us on the better path to health.
But do we do the same when it comes to spiritual health?
Are we just as insufferable in wanting to tell everyone about Jesus? If we believe the gospel, we should be. It’s the loving thing to do.
Then and only then will we be able to love one another.
QUESTIONS FOR GROUP DISCUSSION OR PERSONAL JOURNALING:
- How was the workout for you? Did it reveal something unexpected to you, either mentally, physically, or spiritually?
- Can you think of spectators in your life who are just watching love?
- Are you loving God above all else? Are there idols in your life that you need to get rid of?
- How many people this Easter do you plan to share the gospel with and love through Christ?
