Fat Sailor Friday: Slothfulness Part I

As part of a continuing theological discussion on being overweight and out of shape, particularly as it relates to the new year, I'm turning the focus from one evil of overeating to another one; being lazy. Stay tuned in future weeks for additional parts...all in the hope that you'll remain strong in your resolution to lose weight and get healthy. Remember, YOU ARE THE TEMPLE!

Proverbs 6:9, 10
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—

I hope you've enjoyed the discussion on Gluttony. We now turn our focus from the idea of gluttony, wherein the believer (or unbeliever for that matter) has trouble eating proper portions. It is, at its heart, a problem of greed, but what about being lazy?

The fact is that I often treat exercise as a way to counter my struggle with gluttony. I try to outrun my intake, as it were. Unfortunately, that rarely works effectively for more than a few weeks. Then my motivation for working out falters and I'm back to square one: Dealing with the problem of slothfulness.
 I woke up this morning at 5:00 AM with all of the intention in the world of going to workout. As I laid there on the living room couch, which is where I went after I left the bedroom at 5:15, the above verses came to mind. How long was I going to lay there? When was I going to actually, finally, get up from my sleep?

Laziness is a slippery slope. It compounds upon itself to create a monster that will not only destroy your personal fitness goals, but your health as well. You won't even be able to fight for a good time at the next 5K race because you'll be too busy trying to get off of the couch.

If you are trying to lose weight and/or get back into shape, then get prepared to fight against slothfulness. Remember that you are the temple, and clean it up! Get up and run!

3 comments:

Leftcoast said...

Dan,I thoroughly enjoyed this as I have struggled for years. One of things we must remember and employ is the the power of prayer. We will always beat up on ourselves for our behavior, which of course is nothing more than opening a nice doorway for Satan. We must learn to forgive ourselves immediately and seek God's grace and strength.He has forgiven us, so must we.
Blessings-

Don the Baptist said...

Excercise. Eat too much. Sleep.

The Navy Christian said...

Left Coast, I understand. Prayer is important. But those of us who understand how much of a struggle this really is know what it means to pray without an answer. It's very difficult.