1 Timothy 4

"Make an effort to exercise godliness in addition to exercising your body. Remember your body will grow old and die, but behaving like God is good not only for the here and now, but in the life that is to come." 1 Timothy 4: 7 & 8 (paraphrase)

Apparently, the ancient Greeks and Romans knew the benefits of exercise, and encouraged physical activity in daily life. Seneca the Younger spoke of running and weight lifting, although he was no fan of exercising himself, and the gladiator schools had very specific 4-day training cycles that sound a lot like modern regimes.

For years I enjoyed working out to my way-fun 90s exercise videos. I still like the videos, and exercising, but my bad neck has made me leery of hopping up and down on a step with weights in my hands. One bad move and I can be in horrible pain for days, or even weeks.

That is why I find such comfort in Paul's words. In the King James Version, he says "bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that is now, and of that which is to come."

I like to think of my "soul" as software, and my body as hardware. My hardware is already outdated, and will soon be worthless, but God has a back-up of my thoughts, memories, and character uploaded in The Cloud. Someday the essence of who I am will be reinstalled into new, upgraded hardware. I am looking forward to that day

We are to build for the here and now, but more importantly, our lives need to be guided by love and kindness, because the effects of how we treat others is what lasts.