14 Days to Integrating Faith and FitnessSample

Know Your Why

Knowing why you're doing anything is vitally important. Knowing why you live where you live, why you work where you work, and why you love what you love helps make sense of life. Knowing why you're working out is equally important. 

What's your why? For me, one of the big answers to that question is that I want to continue to be healthy for my children, and be physically able to roll around on the ground and play with them. That's how I can honor God with my fitness each and every day: to live out my primary calling to my family.

Your “why” must be connected to something that’s bigger, and more eternal than just how physically fit you are. This helps your motivation, but it also gives your physical fitness a higher value. Your fitness shouldn't simply be driven by a desire to get stronger, faster, and more skilled. That’s like looking at a diamond from 10 feet away and saying, “What a pretty little rock.” The more you know your why, and the more closely you examine and refine it, the deeper and more beautiful your journey becomes. A diamond may look nice from 10 feet away, but you realize it has an even greater beauty the closer you look.

Your “why” might be a person or a group of people. It may be a goal or a vision you’re chasing after. Or it might just be to honor God with your body in all things. 

Do you pursue God with your physical fitness? What’s your why?