Bodybuilding Holiness

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:4-27 NASB

The Apostle Paul compared the Christian life to one of a competitive runner, perhaps from the Greek Olympics of his own time. The Christian life is one of spiritual athleticism, as John Wesley put it, always "striving on to perfection."

Bodybuilding didn't exist as a sport in Paul's time, but is also a good metaphor for God's call on us to lives of personal holiness. More than any other sport, bodybuilding is life-consuming. You may hear of many professional baseball, basketball, or football players engaging in wild partying and a more flamboyant, consumptive lifestyle, such as Dennis Rodman. A recent medical study suggested that most NFL players are clinically obese and at risk for heart disease and diabetes due to unhealthy eating. Bodybuilders simply cannot do this and even hope to be successful in competition. Every calorie that a bodybuilder consumes is carefully measured. Everything that enters into a bodybuilder's mouth is decided deliberately. Several weeks before competition, a bodybuilder may consume very little beyond protein powder, tuna, and asparagus. Every lift is measured and planned with victory in mind. Even the time of day for workouts is selected for optimal performance. Everything a seriously competitive bodybuilder does in his life is about winning.

It's a lot like how we are supposed to live. Everything about a Christian should be about living in purity. Our desire to be sanctified should not be relegated to a part of the day or a part of our lives, but consume us entirely. Our first and foremost concern should be living as Christ did. Nothing coming out of us or going into us should reflect anything other than perfection.

Perfection or gradations approaching perfection in bodybuilding are carefully classed. If one sees a parade of bodybuilders at a show at the final posedown, one may wonder how it is possible to judge between them. The best bodybuilders should have the most well-proportioned, developed, and striated musculature. Varying with the organization, there may be between seven and ten degrees of muscular definition.

Most of these differences are so minute that no one other than a professionally-trained bodybuilding competition judge can hope to discern them. Yet these judges can differentiate between minor degrees in muscularity that you and I would be blind to.

So, too, we know little or nothing about the holiness of other people. What lies beyond their public personas? What lies behind ours? Are we living holy lives, fully devoted to the Lord? People around us may not be able to tell the difference. But God can. He knows the extent to which we are striving on to perfection, and how successful those strivings have been. The subtle degrees of holiness (or lack thereof) within us are exposed when we stride onto his competition stage in our posing suits. Nothing is hidden from him.