”For the bodily discipline toward a little it is profitable, but the godliness toward all things it is profitable, having a promise of life [in] the now and [in] the coming.”
-Just do it. Built to make you better. Start strong, get stronger. We will. These are the mantras of today’s disciplined athletes (or at least the shoe companies which cater to them). This is the mindset of the one who typically is resolved to get better at some sport or form of physical fitness. But to what end? What is the profit? In other words, what’s in it for me? A natural question. What am I going to get out of this? Practically speaking, how does this help me make progress in the things that matter to me? And when people talk about profit, they are usually thinking about money. Financial gain. Financial matters (because finances do matter). But clearly the subject here is broader than that, since neither of these endeavors are directly tied to income.
-We’re talking about value, benefit beyond the bank account, apart from the ledger. It calls into stark relief the question of worth - and what is “worth it”, what is really valuable in life. Jesus actually did the heavy lifting, He crunched the numbers for us, when He posed the ultimate value question: what does it profit someone if they gain the whole world, and lose their soul (Matthew 16.26, Mark 8.36, Luke 9.25)? In John’s Gospel, Jesus puts it even more clearly: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing” (John 6.63). Zero. Useless. A complete waste of time, it would seem. If and when you run the numbers and do the accounting, it turns out that your soul - that immaterial-yet-not-immaterial part of you and me and each one of us which bears the eternal divine image of the Almighty and which was truly built to last forever, on into eternity - this is by far the most valuable and precious thing in the world. And you and I and all God’s people each have one! An eternal soul! But it’s hard to think in those terms, isn’t it? It’s difficult to get our finite brains around this concept of forever, of life beyond this life, the here and now. We’re so tied to the temporal, aren’t we? Each day is so full of cares, it’s entirely understandable that we get and stay so focused on the immediate, the tangible, the material. Life in the now cries out for our attention. Our bodies scream for our attention. Our families, our homes, our duties, our world clamors for our attention - and to be sure, we should not neglect our bodies nor our worldly obligations. We should take care of our bodies - Paul does make that concession here. There is some (little) profit to be realized in physical discipline. And we can and should strive for excellence in the things we pursue in this life. But with all our pursuing, we must not neglect nor ever underestimate the importance of the pursuit of godliness, this cultivation of the eternal, our soul. In fact, we should prioritize it! This is THE one thing which holds promise for eternity.
-Eternity. The life that is to come. That place and time out of time where we will (or could, or should) truly be all we were created to be. Not because we did the extra mile or lap or set or rep, not because we took good care of our physical body, but because we took good care of our soul. We pursued excellence in things spiritual, those which will last forever. We invested in the kingdom of God. We learned to handle accurately the eternal inspired words of Scripture, the words of Christ which give life and are able to save and preserve our soul (and the souls of those around us). We were careful and learned to engage in love and those good deeds which store up treasure in heaven (cf 2Timothy 2.15, 3.16-17; Titus 3.8; 1Corinthians 13.3; Luke 18.28-30).
-So, let’s do it! Let’s start strong, and get stronger - in the strength which God supplies by His Spirit - mighty in the Scripture, mighty in good deeds (like Jesus - Who was mighty in word and deed, Luke 24.19, and Apollos, who was mighty in the Scriptures - Acts 18.24). David had his mighty men, how about Jesus? Where are His mighty men and women of faith? Who will step up to the plate, who will go for it in this generation, in the now time? We will. By God’s grace, we will.
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