Overflow

Spiritual Training Cycle: Foundation (wk. 9/13)

Reading: Psalm 19:1-14

A personal best deadlift. A faster benchmark workout time. Getting a strict pull-up. I hear phrases like this all the time as athletes verbalize where they want to go. And I think it’s awesome! I encourage them to set new goals as they strive to push themselves beyond their personal limits. But nothing happens without the work. You can dream all you want of a heavier deadlift. You can even visualize it coming off the ground as you stand tall. But if you’re not under the barbell working those reps and sets, a heavier deadlift will always remain just a dream. If you want to grow, you have to let the work do its work. Fitness is simply the overflow.

Some days, the hardest work you’ll do is getting to the gym. Your mind has the potential to deliver you or derail you. It can fill you full of positive thoughts like: “You got this,” or “You get to see your friends,” or “You are never sorry when you go to the gym.”

But it can also fill you with negative thoughts. That same brain can tell you: “You’re tired,” or “One day off won’t matter,” or “You deserve a recovery day.” The overflow of consistency in fitness training is the work you do between the ears. And no matter how long you’ve been on this fitness journey, mindfulness still matters. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it!

Mindfulness is also a critical component of spiritual fitness. You can dream all you want about becoming a calmer, more relaxed person, but if you don’t fill your mind with the work and Word of God, then don’t expect much. This is why we’ve been studying meditation all month.

Biblical meditation is a focus on God, His Works, or His Word, and a deep reflection on His truths. The idea of meditation is to become absorbed in the fabric of God with the end goal of turning the thoughts about His truths into actions evidenced in your life. For the last few weeks, we’ve been reading from the same passage of Scripture, Psalm 19. Psalm 19 shows us how to practically apply the spiritual exercise of meditation.

Begin with creation. Fill your mind with all that God has done in nature. It’s pretty amazing! Watch how God restores nature after a disaster. Notice how nature moves in rhythm with God and the seasons of the year. The leaves on the trees are the overflow of work in the roots you’ll never see.

Then fill your mind with God’s Word. The Bible will reveal something new to you every time you read it. New insights and new mysteries await you in the best-selling book of all time. The Word of God is active and alive, which means it has the potential to bring new life to your soul.

Finally, just enjoy spending some quality time with God. As you consider all that He’s done or talk to Him about what He’s going to do, your heart becomes full. Mindfulness gives way to heartfulness, where you now experience God in a more complete way. The result of meditation is a life of love, joy, peace, and so much more. Meditation is the work. The results are the overflow.

Questions for Reflection:

What most helps you fill your mind with the things of God?

What does the overflow of God look like in your life?

Words Matter

Spiritual Training Cycle: Foundation (wk. 8/13)

Reading: Psalm 19:7-11

Nobody told me that joining CrossFit would require me to learn a new vocabulary.

AMRAP. Chipper. EMOM. Fran. Grace. HSPU. Metcon. Murph. Muscle-ups. Pistols. RX. Thrusters. Toes-to-bar. Unbroken. WOD.

For the newcomer, seeing this language on the whiteboard can be confusing and intimidating. Even talking to a veteran can feel like you’re listening to someone who is speaking a foreign language: “I went on SugarWod to see today’s WOD and was bummed to see the Metcon was a modified Cindy AMRAP” means very little to the average human being, but to a CrossFit athlete, that phrase makes perfect (and potentially painful!) sense.

But CrossFit is not just about a new vocabulary. It’s about understanding the meaning behind the vocabulary. When it comes to fitness, words matter.

Vocabulary is just the beginning Words matter. They matter because they carry meaning. And the best words carry deep, rich meaning. Not just “that sentence makes sense” meaning, but “these words can change my life” meaning.

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” – Psalm 19:7

Three thousand years ago, written words were few. We were transitioning from oral traditions to pen-and-paper. (Okay, it wasn’t quite pen-and-paper yet, but you get my drift.) The Hebrew scriptures were some of the earliest writings known to man.

During his reign, King David was expected to keep his own copy of these scriptures close at hand at all times. The Hebrew Torah - translated as “the law of the Lord” in the verse above - included the Biblical books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These were David’s regular reading assignments. In fact, Jewish scholars tell us the king was expected to carry his own personal copy of the Torah in a small tube attached to his right arm for easy reference (Sort of like a three-millennium-ago kindle app for the iPhone!). David needed access to God’s Word because he knew that God’s word matters.

Soul-reviving and Wisdom-imparting It has been more than 1000 days since Covid-19 shut our society down. While we’ve emerged from our homes and re-engaged in normal life, life isn’t normal anymore. The social, political, and economic climate has changed. Life is hard in ways that we weren’t even thinking about 36 months ago. The good news is that the word of God hasn’t changed. His soul-reviving, wisdom-creating Bible is as powerful today as it was three years - and three millennium - ago.

The solution? – spend time in God’s word. King David read God’s word consistently, and it revived his soul and gave him wisdom in some very tough times 3,000 years ago. It will do the same for us when we read it consistently.

Breath deep in God’s Word If reading the Bible is a new rhythm for you, a great place to start is the gospel of Mark. It’s the shortest (and some say the strongest) of the four Gospels (the first four books of the New Testament). When you finish that, turn to Proverbs. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs; many people read a chapter each day of the month, then start over again. Several of Paul’s writings in the New Testament are short and inspiring: Philippians, Galatians or Ephesians might be a great place to dive in. If Bible reading is not new to you, perhaps a deeper study of Romans or a year-through-the-Bible commitment may make sense. The key is to make Bible reading a consistent part of your day.

God’s word is powerful enough to revive a post-Covid soul and make wise those who feel too inadequate or anxious or fearful to handle the complications of life in 2023. The challenge: you and I need to be like King David and carry God’s word with us daily. Breathe deep in God’s word as we realize just how much His words matter.

Questions for Reflection:

What does God’s word in Psalm 19:7 say to you? How would you apply it to your life?

How do you deal with words, phrases, or passages in the Bible that are confusing or don’t make sense to you?

Greatness

Spiritual Training Cycle: Foundation (wk. 7/13)

Reading: Psalm 19:1-6

I want you to imagine that you are at the gym for a minute and you’re about to start class. While everyone is still huddled by the whiteboard, your coach tells you that you are going to be taught instead by a world renown fitness athlete. This athlete can be anyone you can think of.

Let’s imagine that it’s Mat Fraser. Even if you don’t know everything about him, I’m sure you know his name. Not only was he the 5x back-to-back CrossFit Games Champion from 2016-2020 but he is currently training the 2nd place finisher of the 2022 CrossFit Games. If those are not enough credentials, through his business, HWPO, he serves thousands of athletes in the fitness community to help them reach their fitness goals through the programming he developed. I don’t know about you, but I would be completely thrilled to be coached by Mat Fraser. Am I right?

Without saying a word, we can all recognize someone like Mat Fraser for what he did. Behind his accolades are commitment, discipline, and perseverance to a degree we can’t fully comprehend. We might think we know what it takes because it must include the obvious of exercise, sleep, recovery, and nutrition in some way, but the process is still hidden to us. In the face of someone great is something greater underneath. Mat Fraser wasn’t made great when he made it to the podium but through the thousands of decisions he made each day to get him there.

God’s creation is different in a sense that instead of capturing our attention for what it has done, it demands our attention for what it is. The heavens, the skies, the sun, all speak volumes of greatness without having to say a word or speech. Take the Grand Canyon for example. No one really needs to explain to you what the Grand Canyon is while you’re struggling to see 200 miles across the rim for you to be left breathless by its existence. Even with all the facts that we know of it, we can’t fully comprehend how it was created.

But as we know, in the face of something great, is something greater behind it.

But as we know, in the face of something great, is something greater behind it. Even creation in all its splendor bows in reverence to the God who has created it. While there are an infinite number of things to try and comprehend about God, He has made one thing abundantly clear, and that is His love for us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus left His greatness in heaven for the purpose of something greater on earth. On the cross where He was sentenced to die, He was without words to acquit himself. At the moment of His final breath, all of creation stood in attention to His greatness. His love is something we can be reminded of every time we look up at the sky and observe the beauty of God’s creation. There’s no one greater in this world that loves you as much as God does.

Questions for Reflection:

What does creation reveal to you about the greatness of God?

What do you enjoy most about the world God created?