I really hate working out. I know that I need to better my physical condition. I don’t like the process of getting there.
Every morning when I wake up, my mind races with excuses and reasons why I shouldn’t go work out and most of them sound rational in the moment. After wrestling through the decision process of whether I should turn my car into the gym’s parking lot or Starbucks’ drive thru, I usually end up grudgingly grabbing my duffle bag and walking into he gym. After changing and beginning my work out, my mind still sends a myriad of messages through my head trying to convince me to stop and leave. When I am on the elliptical machine, I hit the 10 minute mark and I want to quit, I want to leave, I want to make it ok that I worked out for a little while. I am tempted to give up.
What is your thing that you get tempted to give up on, to maybe not even start? What voices compete in your head or in your life for you to stop to doing what you know you should do or what God has called you to do? Have you gotten into a pattern of listening to the voices? Has that pattern led you to feel like your potential is limited or your best days are behind you? Have you started to live a life where you believe that if things get difficult then it must not be the right thing for you or that it doesn’t matter?
I want to encourage you to not give up. Lean into the hard, the difficult, the competing options that you might face or hear. The Bible gives some advice and encouragement for us when we face the desire to give up. James 1:3 says, “The testing of your faith produces perseverance.” Perseverance is more than something you should do, because you should finish what you started. Perseverance is more important than a shallow completion of a task. James 1:4 follows up with this important verse, “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” I believe so many times we bail out of difficult situations, opportunities before we become mature and complete. We stop from finishing and we end up unknowingly being stunted in our maturity. It’s not too late to finish what you have started. It’s not too late to build maturity.
The thing with my workout is that as soon as I get in the gym, I never stop from finishing. When I am on the elliptical and my muscles hurt and I hear the thoughts of stopping I don’t stop. And every time that I don’t stop it gets easier to come back and workout again. When you quit, it becomes easier to quit again. When you don’t give up, it is easier for you to keep going next time. Don’t give up, whether that is school, investing in people, going to church, loving people, getting physically fit, becoming financially secure, simply don’t give up so that you can be mature and complete. You can do it.