Where is Our Strength?

While my wife and some of the kids lay down this afternoon, I went to take advantage of my new Gold's Gym membership.  After a good session of hitting the wall on certain muscle groups, I finished off with a short jog on the treadmill, which looked like the deck of the Starship Enterprise.  

There's not much to do while running slowly in place, so I scanned the multiple TVs set up for my distraction, one of which was on the Gold's Gym channel.  Helpful exercise tips, bad pop music, ads for "recovery shakes." The normal. But then I got to see the full-length Gold's Gym inspirational spot--Strong/Stronger.  According to the short, music-heavy spot, working out at Gold's Gym doesn't just get you physically fit.  It makes you "stronger than heartbreak," "stronger than age," "stronger than illness," etc. Push-ups are the medicine for what ails you, physically, psychologically, socially, and spiritually--at least, according to them.  You can get a taste of Gold's vision for this new church on their testimony page. 

As the number of problems solved by persistent gym attendance piled up, I waited in anticipation. Gold's Gym beats sickness, they say.  It beats old age.  But will they go to the next step?  Will it beat death?  

We are shown a quick image of junk food, and told that we are "Stronger than temptation," but what about sins that aren't described by nutrition labels?  What about self-idolatry? "Worshipping the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed over all, Amen" (Rom. 1)?    Or the casual lust that features prominently in their other promotional spots (intense sweating man/woman being eyed by person of opposite gender, etc.).  

Though reading about exercise facts and techniques gets me excited about pumping iron, I was singularly uninspired by the inspirational spot on the Gold's Gym channel because it unmasked the driving motivation behind the rush to Gold's and other gyms (by many people, though not all).  People resonate with the doctrine of "Stronger" because it lays out doable steps to a lower, achievable goal, all while making it feel like a grander, more admirable goal.  It's a religion that people can get into, a religion that people can be religious about.  And, as the mirrors all around demonstrate, it's a religion that centers around the body.

Paul tells us that "bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come" (I Tim. 4:8).  We do have something that makes us stronger, but our strength is over the power of sin and, ultimately, over the power of death. No matter how we tone our bodies now, we are just delaying the inevitable slide into deterioration, but the strength of godliness will bring us a body that is not so prone to weakness.  

I'll be back at the Gold's church on Monday (legs and back exercises), but I won't be worshipping.  My strength is in the Lord.