Unless something dies inside

Unless something dies inside, new life can never begin.  Sound strange? Strength athletes know what I’m talking about.

You’ll never succeed in the gym until you kill laziness, lethargy and mediocrity.  Although the pain that produces injury must be avoided, the pain that strengthens must be embraced. Weights need to be heavy enough to strengthen, falling short of injury – threading the needle.  In this landscape, plains of endurance must be crossed; bridges over rivers of mediocrity burned.  We suffer in the gym today to see the goals of tomorrow live.  It’s just what you do.

Athlete Ryan Sack of Brighton, Michigan (featured here) has really learned this discipline. He is killing it in the gym five times a week while maintaining a busy lifestyle.       

The desire for the prize of the new life inside fuels the discipline.

Weight loss is similar. If you want to shed pounds, you must die to the desire for junk food, excess carbs and high fat foods.  The desire for the prize of a new life, the fit person that lives inside fuels the discipline.

We can be our own worst enemy though. Many times after starting a plan to eat healthy and exercise, we fall back to old ways and habits. It can be an ever-persistent war between two opponents marching across the battlefield of our will, each seeking to gain ground.  Live or die.  Succeed or fail.

THE INNER MAN

Now about the inner man.  I remember once reading that to really begin living one must first die to the old self which is corrupted by a fallen nature.  When I started reading the Bible seriously, I was taken back by the biblical claim that nothing good lives in us, which is the sin nature. Yet modern psychology has taught us the opposite: man is good. 

Which is Truth?  You only need one eye open to see the messy state of this world.  Historically, empires evolve and time and time again, corruption rises to the top and the whole structure falls to the ground.  In time, out of the ashes another rises again and the cycle repeats.

Mankind is corrupted by a fallen nature and we are dead in our trespasses against a Holy God.  We’re dead men and women walking.  The demands of God’s moral laws, which you and I cannot meet, have been met in full by Christ’s death on the cross. The Bible says new life begins by accepting Christ’s death for our sins.  Only by faith in Christ can man be in right standing with God.

TRANSFORMATION FROM SELFISH TO GOD-HONORING

Through faith, God’s spirit can live inside us, and we can be transformed into His likeness more and more as we read the Bible, pray, worship and seek Him.

Ryen Sack is an example of a man transformed by Christ.  He recalls, “I once lived a selfish lifestyle of using a muscular physique for acceptance and intimidation”.  By contrast, he has now died to these old ways and uses his physique and discipline to honor God.  In addition to balancing time with his family, work and the gym he holds Bible Studies at the local jail in his county a few times each month.  He has aspirations to open a gym that helps troubled teens build confidence through workouts while sharing the teachings of Christ with them.

BEYOND SYMBOLS – A WAY OF LIFE

The old wooden cross is an ancient symbol of death.  It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-bye to his friends. He was not coming back. (AW Tozer)

Jesus said: whoever would come after me, must deny himself and take up his cross daily.  (Matthew 16:24) Paul said: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. (Galatians 2:20)

Nothing that hasn’t first died can ever be raised from the dead.

The Bible tells us: If by the Spirit we put to death the sinful actions we will live. (Romans 8:13)  Jesus said: I am the Way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)  Either Jesus is who He said He is – the Son of God – or He was a liar.  Where’s the proof?  He died and rose again.

Christ meant what He said that we will not really live unless we first die.  Nothing that hasn’t first died can ever be raised from the dead. ‘Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it will bear much fruit. (John 12:24)

Unless something dies inside, new life can never begin.