Hi everyone! My name is Javier, I’m a student in Washington DC, and this is my first contribution to Mbird. I am really excited to be able to add my 2 cents, as I have been reading for a while now, and this site has been such a blessing to me. I am so thankful for the grace this blog (not to mention Judgment And Love and Who Will Deliver Us?) champions and how it always points me to the Cross.
Anyways, for my first post I wanted to delve into one of the great symbols of pure Law (at least for me): the Gym. I was recently reading a NY Times article: Personal Best: Fitness Isn’t An Overnight Sensation and it struck close to home.
When I was a child I was really into sports. Although I grew up all over the world, I always loved soccer and basketball. I watched sports religiously and could name all the stats and players, etc. Gradually, the exposure (somehow) led me to believe that I would one day join the NBA. I played on the local middle school team so – why not right!? Eventually though, as my confidence in telling people I was going to play in the NBA like Jordan grew, certain people got a little worried and tried to knock some realism into me. They would ask, “Do you know how many people want to get into the NBA?” I have never been good at math, but I got the picture, and with crushed dreams, I went back to just watching and admiring.
However, when I got to college, a new wave of athletic hopes came floating in. This time, I wanted to get buff. So, I made a little regiment and began pumping iron my Freshman year. Do not be deceived though, I came back aching all the time, and no matter how many protein shakes I drank, the “buffnesss” never really came. After about five months of trying and trying, I gave up. It just didn’t seem to be worth all the effort.
Now that I look back and think about it, I realize that I have grown scared of the gym and sports in general. Whenever I would walk in the gym, I would see people lifting weights who were like three times bigger than me (taller and buffer) and made me want to run away screaming. To me, it was a whole world – with the treadmills, and the ellipticals, and the free weights, etc. And there was a whole code of behavior – to stretch before and after, look in the mirror periodically to revel in the progress, to make it look easy. Plus, I always got the feeling everyone was looking at me. The message was simple: be perfect – have a perfect body and be chiseled like Michelangelo’s David! It was and is pure Law to me – telling me what to do, even though I know I can’t do it!
It’s no mystery now that I never followed through with that program. I even went to the gym the other day to take another stab at it; of course, I chose to go with an ex-marine – I have not been able to extend my arm fully ever since and I think my abs are internally bleeding! I always joke that the only reason I can run on a treadmill is that my motivation is right in front of me – if I stop, I’ll break my face! Nowadays, when I do go to the gym, it’s because I am listening to a song by Sufjan Stevens or a sermon that tells me that the cross is our salvation. Hallelujah because Christ has delivered us from this body of death!
I leave you with one of Luther’s prayers (from a book called Luther’s Prayers edited by Herbert F. Brokering) entitled “For Help to Overcome Sense of Unworthiness”:
Lord, it is for your honor and to your service that I now ask. Oh be praised and glorified. I plead, fully aware that you have glory, and that I am a poor, undeserving sinner. I cannot be without your help. You are willing and able to grant it all to all who ask for it. Oh see my need and misery, and help me for your honor’s sake. Amen.
Read more on and from 
8 comments
sbrbaby says:
Jan 31, 2009
I’m so glad you posted Javier! I’ve been struggling with the gym lately because it SUCH a law to me, especially in the winter when its too cold to exercise outside. Even though I love to be in shape, I just can’t get away from outcome/progress-based workouts and that kills the whole thing for me. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one, thanks!
John Stamper says:
Jan 31, 2009
Hey Javier! Real glad you are here. Nice piece.
The cult of the gym is a huge magnet for today’s theologians of glory. It’s funny — I ran into a Bodybuilder’s Creed posted on the wall of some gym a few years ago; it was 100% pure glory story. I’ll see if I can scare it up next week.
Again, glad you’re here pal.
JDK says:
Feb 1, 2009
Javier–looking forward to meeting you in March–and wonderful pictures, by the way!
Kate Norris says:
Feb 1, 2009
Hi Javier, thanks for your post and for the wonderful prayer by Luther at the end. Amen!
Clifford Swartz says:
Feb 2, 2009
Friends — Is there a risk in our conversations on this blog to mix up the Law and idols?
The former is of God, and thus holy and good, though has become a curse to us through our flesh. Our indwelling sin renders us unable to keep it and we face the terrible prospect of judgement under the Law but for Christ and his mercy.
The latter is of ourselves, idols being objects representing or mental projections of our own desires/fears/hopes/etc. We meet these with the truth of the Gospel to recall whom we should really worship.
In Javier’s example, the idol is a buffed version of himself, an idolatry I have battled too — but now really am past it bodily, though not spiritually!.
The dynamics of how this feels may be the same (whether to go to the gym or not), but as we know, motivation is key. So I ask if this confusion between the Law and idolatry risks our capitulation in the fight against sin by naming the things of this world as the Law. This is to fail to bring grace to bear in our lives, the very sweet gift everyone who comments on this blog longs to experience.
The Lord never commanded buffness. But he did command us to keep ourselves from idols. And he does use the example of an athlete to encourage us to take hold of all the benefits we have in Jesus.
So I mention this with hopes that we can know that joy of fixing our eyes on Jesus, without regard to the physical condition we find ourselves. And that the lies of this world (that physical appearance is our measure of worth) can be met, as Javier has done, with a right view of ourselves as sinners saved by grace.
Thanks —
Cliff
JAG says:
Feb 2, 2009
Hey everyone! Thank you for all the encouragement after a first post – I am glad people can relate and I am not the only one with issues approaching the gym.
In response to Cliff’s perceptive comment, I think it’s true that we can separate what is idolatrous and what is Law in the example I gave. The idolatry is loving the body up and above our Christ, concentrating on it as if it were our salvation – the sort of Pelagian “I can do it all by myself! Watch me!” – instead of turning to the crucified Christ who has done all things for us and has given us His boundless grace. The Law I was trying to tap into, on the other hand, is more like the law (little l) that PZ spoke about in “Who Will Deliver Us?” whereby we are always condemning ourselves because of internal and external pressures we inevitably face day in and day out.
As John Stamper commented as well, the gym can be a fount of theologians of glory. Perhaps what the theologian of glory, and any self-glory seeker does (we are all tempted to do the same, of course) is idolize something and embrace the law (again, little l) that comes with it as salvation unto itself. This lacks the very Christ-given grace we need, which frees us from idols and this pervasive law simultaneously.
John Stamper says:
Feb 2, 2009
Hey JAG, meant to ask you, since you live in DC… where do you go Sunday mornings? Ever been to All Saints in Bethesda? I hear the rector there is da bomb.
JAG says:
Feb 3, 2009
John – I have been going to Grace, DC in Chinatown which is awesome. I definitely have heard of All Saints, so maybe I’ll venture a Sunday to go out to Bethesda!