Community Made

Spiritual Training Cycle: Connection (wk. 5/13)

John 17:1-9

Community has become a buzzword in many businesses today. People are realizing that to create a lasting and rich culture, they need to build a community within their organization. Yet, many communities claim to value connection but fail to live up to it. The word "community" often becomes a nagging hum in the background, easily dismissed.

But the truth is, we all recognize a true community when we see it. This past July, we celebrated 10 years as a CrossFit gym. It was also the last class I had the privilege of coaching before my family and I took a leap toward our next career move. Taking that step was the hardest, but it was the right one. It was a day filled with tears of gratitude and sadness. During the celebration, I spoke with a vendor who was there, a woman who had traveled all across the country with the military and was now establishing a business in our small town. I’ll never forget what she told me: “I want to find a family like yours one day.”

Community is not only something we’re made for; it’s what we’re made from. In one of the most intimate passages in the Bible, Jesus prays with both joy and heartache in His final moments with His disciples. He gives us a lens into the full nature of God:

“And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:5)

God has always been a communal being. He perfectly defines what community is because He is self-giving in every possible way—even in creating us. God didn’t create us out of desperation, manipulation, or loneliness. He was entirely self-sufficient and communal within Himself. Out of deep-seated love, God chose to make us in His image, so that we could experience the love shared between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In His mercy, God came to save us into this love. He saw us abandoned by the failures of those who should have protected us, insecure in our desire for acceptance, and longing to feel alive to something meaningful. And He made a choice. Jesus came to rescue us from the fractures in our relationships, including our relationship with God. By faith in Jesus, we are saved from the penalty that sin has caused to our eternal community with God. Jesus, the perfect reflection of what we are meant to be in relationship with each other, tells us what eternal life truly is: “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

The salvation Jesus provides is both personally restorative and communally transformative. While we may rely on the best tactics in marketing, promotion, or business strategies, Jesus teaches us the ultimate way to show the world this love: through how we love one another.

What if every day we lived our lives intentionally, aware of the people around us? In every community we are part of—whether it’s the neighbor who watches your dog when you’re out, the group you text to play pickleball, the youth group you volunteer with, or your CrossFit community – God wants to reveal His love to the world through you. By shaping these relationships with Christ-like love, you have the power to influence their eternity.

We were created in the image of a communal God, designed to live in relationship with Him as we extend our love to each other. More than just a collection of individuals pursuing fitness goals, we're a community that reflects the love, grace, and selflessness of Christ. Through community, God’s love can reach beyond the walls of our heart and into the world around us.

Questions for Reflection:

What role has community played in your relationship with Jesus?

What’s one pearl of wisdom you’ve gained from your community?

Break Down

Spiritual Training Cycle: Connection (wk. 4/13)

Revelation 21:1-6

I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m good once as I ever was,

May not be good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.

-       Toby Keith, As Good As I Once Was

If you are a country music fan, you’ve got this Toby Keith song bouncing around in your head right now. But even if you don’t know the song, for most of us there are certain things where we remember being better back then than we are right now.

April 15th and May 2nd

A number of years ago – on my 30th birthday (April 15th) I bench-pressed 315 pounds. Two weeks later at a local running event, I ran a sub-42-minute 10k. Both were very significant accomplishments for me! And . . . I’ve never been able to match either of those achievements since.

Things break down

Fast forward a few years: hip problems led to surgery and chronic low-grade back issues. I’m back in the gym consistently now, but probably won’t ever be what I was physically. How about you? Do you remember, “the good old days?” BTW: Are you currently in the prime of your athletic capabilities? I’ve got bad news for you: decline is coming!!

Spiritual, Relational and Physical Entropy

A physicist defines “Entropy” as “things are always in a state of decline.”  A theologian would go further: entropy is a result of the fall of man. God set mankind up for success in the Garden of Eden, but mankind’s choice to act as our own gods introduced entropy to our world, and it has been downhill since. We became estranged from God, other people and even ourselves. Accidents happen. Injuries occur. Relationships are broken. According to the Bible, our lives are often full of “mourning, crying and pain.”

It wasn’t supposed to be that way; it won’t be that way in the future

God hates entropy. Indeed, when he finished all of creation, he reflected on what he had created and said, “This is very good.” Entropy had no place in the Garden of Eden. But when mankind broke trust with God, decline started with their first sin, and God stepped off the stage. Humanity left the garden, and entropy has been at play ever since.

But a better day is coming. 

At the end of the Bible’s final book, we see the picture of God returning to fully restore all things.  Here’s the vision the author of Revelation shared with us in Revelation 21:3-4:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself with be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

A better day is coming and can start today

Having a view of this wonderful future has empowered Christians for thousands of years to restore glimpses of Eden by fighting against spiritual and relational decline.  As followers of Christ, that is the hope we bring to our world. “The former things have passed away” can be previewed around us as we invite God back onto center stage of our lives.

Questions for Reflection:

How does this world conspire against keeping you connected to God and yourself?

Where can you and God reverse spiritual entropy in your life and around you?

Perspective

Spiritual Training Cycle: Connection (wk. 3/13)

Titus 3:3-7

Thrusters are the Worst

I used to think burpees were the worst exercise known to man. Then I got introduced to thrusters.  Start with a weighted barbell ground-to-overhead move, then, with the barbell extended overhead, do a deep squat while simultaneously lowering the barbell to your shoulders. As you extend from your squat, you also push the barbell back overhead. That’s a thruster. Who thinks of these exercises? What kind of torture did they experience that caused them to want to get even?

One day last week, the workout at my CrossFit gym included three rounds of repeat thrusters combined with repeat gymnastic moves: 12 minutes of continuous rounds of 12 thrusters and 12 pull-ups, 2 minutes of rest, then 8 minutes of 8 thrusters and 8 bar muscle-ups, 2 minutes of rest, then finally 4 minutes of 4 thrusters and 4 ring muscle-ups. Oh – and you added weight to the barbell between each set!

I failed miserably

While several athletes around me raced through multiple rounds during each set of this workout, I struggled to get more than two rounds during each of the three different sets. I was bent over gasping for air every chance I got.

That’s when I remembered three things: first, our coaches always remind us that we aren’t comparing ourselves against others in the gym. Additionally, the foster dog we’d taken in two days earlier had led to a couple of sleep-deprived nights and my body was hurting. And finally, while I wasn’t at my best during the workout, it wasn’t too long ago that the very idea of multiple rounds of repeat thrusters was beyond me.

Having a long-term perspective changes things

Here’s the realization I came to: one bad workout in the whole scheme of things is not that significant. The bigger perspective: I’m not who I used to be (even when it comes to thrusters!), and I look forward to a better future.

Paul shared a similar spiritual perspective with his apprentice Titus

Paul came from a very legalistic upbringing. From what we know of Titus, he grew up in an environment where anything was acceptable. In Paul’s short letter to him, Paul described both their past lives as “foolish, disobedient, slaves to passions and pleasures, malice, envy and hatred.” But now both of them had been transformed by the forgiveness and calling of Jesus.

Having an eternal perspective changes things

And, having their lives changed by Jesus, things were now different for them. Specifically, Paul reminds Titus that when God’s loving-kindness reached to each of them, they were no longer bound by their old broken ways, but now “have become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).  The hope of eternal life was not just some for the distant future – it changed their perspective on who they were in the present world as well.

Questions for Reflection:

How do you keep the long-term perspective in mind when you have the periodic bad day at the gym?

How does having a long-term, eternal perspective on your spiritual life change how you view your current life and circumstances?