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PINIMAGEFriends, I’m really thinking of giving up my Planet Fitness membership. Don’t get me wrong. The facility is top-of-the-line. The equipment is new. They pride themselves on slogans like “No gymtimidation.” They pride themselves on a friendly, welcoming atmosphere..jpeg)
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They have a lot of perks. Including free bagels and pizza….What? Oh, and candy at the front counter. Ugh. Don’t they know my love for sugar???
Wanna know how my experience at Planet Fitness has worked out for me?
I’ve gained 5 pounds since I started in February.
CAN I MAKE A DISCLAIMER HERE: This is not a slam against Planet Fitness. Frankly, they are MARKETING GENIUSES. I am sure there are people who have had great success at Planet Fitness. (I’d be curious to know how many of those who have succeeded had a consistent accountability partner.)
I understand that Planet Fitness wants everyone to feel welcome and not intimidated. They cater to the “personal experience.” When I go in there, I enter a “judgement free zone.” That’s nice and all, but there’s a problem here. It’s not working for me.
I don’t need someone to empathize with me when my workouts get hard. Sometimes I look around and think…”That should do it for today. No one will even notice I’ve gone after only being here 15 minutes. Maybe I’ll grab a few of those candies on the way out.” I have literally done that! I need someone to challenge me to keep going. Those who know me, know I have a slightly competitive nature and, most of the time, I want to work out hard. BUT, I, also if given the right conditions, want to sit down and have a bagel or two. Chalk that up with no consistent accountability and it’s a recipe for disaster. Herein lies the problem.
Friends, who would’ve thought we’d see the day where we can finish up a workout with a slice of pizza? Hey,”no judgement here.” Just an observation. We’ve become soft. And our problem isn’t Planet Fitness.
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PINIMAGESince the days have been getting warmer, I’ve decided to head outside. There I am able to take in the beauty of God’s creation (the budding trees, the flowers blooming, the green grass and blue skies). Every time I get out there, my thoughts turn to the glory of God. It’s therapy: no mirrors, no bagels, no self-assessing, no conflicting news stories causing my blood pressure to go up – just walking in nature with the Lord. I find an amazing amount of peace when my focus is off myself and on Him and other things.
However, honestly, I find it is hard work to keep my thoughts there.
Think about it…How much of your day is spent assessing how you feel about what you are experiencing? or what you need to be doing? or how your schedule will impact you personally?
How much time did you spend today considering what God might have for you to do? What encounter? What opportunity? What step of obedience?
Right now I’m reading a book called, 21 Servants of Sovereign Joy by John Piper. His purpose in writing it is to inspire the reader by taking a brief look at the lives of godly servants who’s lives were poured out for His glory. What can we learn from them? How should we be like them? What mistakes did they make that we can identify with or seek to avoid in our own walk. I have thoroughly enjoyed it!
This morning, I was struck by something John Piper said while he shared on the life of Charles Simeon who died in 1836. Piper admires Simeon for his “great power of perseverance (in the midst of trials…as he) surmounted great obstacles in obedience to God’s call and power of God’s grace.” Simeon knew what it meant to remain steadfast when things were hard and the trial seemed endless.
Piper states,
I need this inspiration from another century, because I know that I am, in great measure, a child of my times. And one of the pervasive marks of our times is emotional fragility. It hangs in the air we breathe. We are easily hurt. We pout and mope easily. We blame easily. We break easily. Our marriages break easily. Our faith breaks easily. Our happiness breaks easily. And our commitment to the church breaks easily. We are easily disheartened, and it seems we have little capacity for surviving and thriving in the face of criticism and opposition.
He continues,
We are surrounded by, and are part of, a society of emotionally fragile quitters. The spirit of the age is too much in us. We need to spend time with the kind of people – whether dead or alive – whose lives prove there is another way to live. Scripture says, be “imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Heb. 6:12)
I don’t know about you, but reading these words of truth this morning and comparing it to my experience at Planet Fitness, I’ve been shaken awake. It’s made me aware of just how self-absorbed I have been in pretty much every area of my life, all the way down to my pursuit of God.
Instead of taking time to reflect on Who God is and what He desires for my day, I find my prayers filled with…
“Lord, I have a lot on my plate. Please help me to accomplish what I need to get done because I count these accomplishments as successes.”
“Lord, the demands of ministry are never-ending. Please give me strength for today because I don’t like to be tired.”
“Lord, strengthen that relationship with so-and-so because it stresses me out when there is conflict.”
“Lord, help me to feel You today. I don’t want to feel distant from You because it makes me feel worried that You are displeased with me.”
– All are self-assessments and resultant requests to God.
I wonder, what would it be like for us to approach today making every effort to put our desires and experiences and opinions and needs last? What if we fixed our thoughts on God first and the others and then ourselves?
Jesus. Others. You.
Reminds me of a song I sang as a child…”Jesus, and others, and you, what a wonderful way to spell JOY.” It’s true.
I learned this morning that Charles Simeon was invited to pastor a church whose residing pastor had died. However, the parishioners did not want Simeon to come. Instead, they wanted someone from within the church to take over. For that reason, they resisted him for 12 YEARS. They even somehow locked their pews on many occasions so that those who came to hear Simeon preach would have to stand in the back. However, Simeon remained steadfast and pastored the church for 54 years in all! He didn’t have a pity party. He didn’t look for more favorable conditions. He didn’t demand his rights to “healthy emotions.” He withstood and endured in the grace of God AND with much joy!
Pipers says of him, “It did not matter that his people were often against him. He was not commissioned by them, but by the Lord. And they were his responsibility.”
God used Simeon’s account this morning to shake me out of my doldrums and self-centeredness to lift my eyes to “the more” that is out there going on all around me. It’s caused me to think about God OUTSIDE myself – not how knowing Him affects my day, but seeking JUST to know Him. It’s almost as if all our heads are down in our work, our phones, our pillows, while life (and God’s ordained purposes for us) just pass us by. Let us learn from the lives of those like Charles Simeon, John Piper, and others who show us how to live in hard pursuit of God!
Lord, help us to seek to bring You glory today. Help us to break free from the prison of idolatry of self and lift You up in every area of our lives. Help us to live on mission and experience the freedom of forgetting self. In Jesus name, Amen.
