Mecca

Spiritual Concept: Heaven (wk. 4/13)

Reading: Philippians 3:7-21

During the golden era, Gold’s Gym Venice was the mecca of bodybuilding that brought up bodybuilding legends Lou Ferrigno (aka 70s hulk), Franco Columbo and Frank Zane. At the time, if you wanted to be an elite bodybuilder you couldn’t just train like them, you had to be in that gym to experience it first-hand the lifestyle of diet, training, rest, and recovery. It was a lived experience that encompassed everything. The gym was the center of perfecting the sport of bodybuilding. At the center of the gym and the center of all of it was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who reflected the ideal athlete for the sport. In our faith, Christ is not only the ideal representation of our spiritual body but the gateway to our heavenly body. Heaven is where our bodies are perfected.

While I have professed to have had some success in the sport of bodybuilding, I can’t say that I’ve had nearly as much success as my wife, Brittany. She is the most capable bodybuilder I know, having created and carried two amazing little humans, Beyla and Emmy. They are 4 years old and one year old respectively. There is nothing any man or woman can say about the sport of bodybuilding that can compare to the bodybuilding required to carry a child through the full term of pregnancy. It is beautiful to witness and an experience I can only stand in awe of and admire. The truest form of bodybuilding transcends the sport.

In the same way, in order for us to transcend spiritually, we must set aside our worldly perspective of bodybuilding. The best bodybuilding happens in heaven and from heaven. From the onset of our birth, we are more than muscle and bone, biceps and brawn. We are made in the image and likeness of God, but a broken reflection of Him. Our bodybuilding journey started at inception. But because of Christ, we are given access to heaven to achieve perfection of what we were born into. 

It is no accident then that Jesus uses this language of birth and rebirth to describe gaining access to heaven.

Speaking to Nicodemus, a spiritual leader, Jesus says in John 3:3,

“Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

And later in verse 15, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.”

Jesus’ power comes from heaven and our access to the power of heaven comes through him. This is how we are reborn and perfected. To truly finalize this point, the Apostle Paul shares this same idea in Philippians 3:20-21,

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

In our worldly bodies, our journey of bodybuilding started at birth. Through Christ, we are given access to the power of heaven for our bodies to be perfected, where we will receive our “glorious body,” transformed by our savior Jesus Christ. Heaven is the true mecca for bodybuilding.

Questions for Reflection:

How has Jesus transformed your life?

When you think of spiritual bodybuilding, what ideas come to mind?

Who do you look to as a mentor for spiritual growth?