Stephen Ministry

Six Necessary Elements for Healthy Athletic—and Spiritual—Training

Background: Stephen Ministries Director of Communications Joel Bretscher is a former competitive swimmer and swim coach. He created this devotion while serving as an adult chaperone on a Katrina-relief mission trip with a high school youth group from his church. He began by leading the group through a series of stretches to get the kinks and tightness out of their muscles after a long day of work. While stretching, he told them about these six elements to spiritual training.

Most of you are--or have been--involved in some sort of sports activity. As a former coach, I want to talk to you about six important ingredients to athletic training, which I will also apply to our spiritual training.

1.   Rigorous Exercise. Workouts, running, training, aerobics, weight lifting, etc. We need to push ourselves hard (hurt . . . pain . . . agony) to tear our muscles down, exhaust ourselves, and work our cardiovascular system to the limit to build strength and endurance. Perhaps you've seen (or maybe you are) one of those dedicated, hardworking athletes who always seems to be pushing himself or herself to the limit, attacking every minute of every workout, day after day, week after week. No doubt, you've seen these types of athletes get a lot stronger and build up a lot more endurance as a result.

      We need to exercise in our spiritual lives with this same level of effort and dedication. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24, "Run in such a way as to get the prize." When we face the stresses, pressures, or fast-paced challenges of daily life, we can either be passive, do nothing, and let life carry us by--or we can actively and intentionally live out our lives as Christians, doing what we know is right even when it's tough to do so and striving for excellence in whatever we do. Exercising this way in our Christian lives gives us strength and endurance--and teaches us perseverance--so we can better tackle any hills, move forward against the current, or overcome any challenges or temptations that come our way.

2. Good Nutrition. Eating a balanced diet that provides the right nutrients, the right combination of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, and the right number of calories to allow our muscles to grow is important. We need to regularly drink water--particularly during exercise--to keep ourselves hydrated.

      Likewise, it's also important for us to get good (and sufficient) nutrition for our spiritual lives. We need regular Bible study, prayer, worship, devotions, and conversations with Christian friends to feed our souls if we're to develop spiritually in healthy ways.

3.   Rest. An oft-forgotten ingredient of athletic (and spiritual) training is rest. It is during times of rest--periodically during the workout and at night--that our muscles rebuild and become stronger. Rest is when our cardiovascular system recovers and becomes more efficient for the next time we exercise. If we exercise continually with no rest or with inadequate rest, we'll tear ourselves down and get weaker and weaker, not stronger.

In our spiritual life we also need to make time to rest; Jesus certainly did! Athletes sometimes need to make an intentional decision to skip a party or a movie and instead go to bed early because they really need the rest. We also need to intentionally set aside time for spiritual rest--to spend time with Jesus, to pray, to do daily devotions, to meditate on Scripture, or to go on spiritual retreats. We need to get away from the busy-ness of daily life and spend time alone with God. Rest is extremely important in our spiritual lives--without it we become weak, tired, vulnerable, and prone to injury.

4.   Stretching. Our muscles need stretching so they don't become bulky and lose all their flexibility. Stretching during and after exercise helps keep the blood circulating through our muscles and works the lactic acid out of our systems. Regular stretching prevents injury and helps us retain and increase our range of motion.

      We need to stretch ourselves spiritually, too. We need to push ourselves out of our comfort zones, getting out into the "mission field" and challenging ourselves to serve others in face-to-face ministry and witness our faith in words and actions. We need to stretch ourselves into good habits and out of bad ones. When we stretch ourselves regularly, we remove the complacency that can set into our lives, and we continually keep ourselves growing and moving forward.

5.   A Coach. In athletic training we need an "expert" who can observe us and teach us proper technique and strategy. We need someone who will help us discover our strengths--and build on them; who will push us to our limit, hold us accountable, discipline and encourage us. That's the role of our coach.

      To grow spiritually, we also need to surround ourselves with good coaches--experts such as pastors, teachers, parents, youth directors, spiritual directors, or mentors. These are people who can guide us, teach us, and challenge us to push it to the limit. They can hold us accountable to keep working toward our goals, celebrate with us when we succeed--and pick us up and encourage us to keep trying when we stumble.

6. Teammates. In both athletic and spiritual training we need peers who have the same goals and commitment as we do. When you're involved in serious training--running, swimming, biking, or weight lifting--it's extremely helpful to have teammates who are also serious about training. (It's difficult to work hard when surrounded by teammates who are lazy or horsing around!) Dedicated, hardworking teammates are people who will challenge us daily, push us to the limit, cheer for us, encourage us, lift us up when we fall down, and celebrate with us.

      The same is true in our spiritual life. If we surround ourselves with teammates who don't take their spiritual lives seriously, their bad habits--laziness, horsing around--will rub off. They may discourage us from pursuing our goals instead of pushing us forward. That's why we need to surround ourselves with a community of people who share our goals, our values, and our commitment. These are people who will train with us; who will make it enjoyable to work hard together; who will push us to the limit (as we push them to the limit); and who will provide the support, encouragement, and accountability we need to grow spiritually.