Why do most people struggle to grow physical muscles? Because it’s painful. It takes a lot of work and constant practice. It can be unpleasant if you’ve never done it before. Spiritual fitness can feel like that, too. But just like physical training, the more you exercise the spiritual muscle of faith, you’ll not only come to see that you’re gaining strength, but that it’s a lifestyle of great blessing and even enjoyment.

These days, you can find a seemingly endless number of videos online that will give you helpful tips to maximize your physical fitness, and those have some value. But what about spiritual fitness, which holds promise both now and for eternity?

I’ll never forget the moment I painfully realized my body was aging. I’ve never been much of a runner, but I’ve always enjoyed sports. So, when the opportunity came to run my first ever 5k, I thought it’d be easy; I just needed the willpower to finish. As a result, I did almost no training in advance.

Race day arrived, and I casually did some light stretching. Shortly after the gun went off, I knew that exhaustion would be a barrier. What I didn’t expect was a strained calf muscle just one mile into the race. This pain was new; it had never happened to me before. But I was determined to finish. I hobbled my way through the final two miles and figured a day or two of rest would be sufficient. But that injury was the beginning of multiple calf strains and tears that plagued me for years. I was not physically fit for that race because I didn’t think I needed the work required to get my body ready.

The Bible tells us that there is a valuable lesson we can glean from physical training. Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:7–8, “…train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Physical fitness is good, but spiritual fitness is essential. Here are five things to consider regarding spiritual training for the race ahead of you.

1. To Build Spiritual Fitness, Train with Others

If you’re like me, running alone is torturous. After a quarter of a mile, I’m ready to start walking. But if I run with another person or a group, I can go so much farther. The same holds true for the spiritual race of the Christian life—we were not meant to run alone.

Hebrews 3:12–13 says, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Left to ourselves, sin’s deceitful tactics are very persuasive.

“What’s the harm in looking at porn just for a few minutes? After all, you’ve had a really stressful day.”

“It’s OK to fantasize about a romantic relationship with that person. It’s only your imagination; you’re not actually going to do anything.”

“You’ll never be accepted as you are now. But cross-sex hormones will open up worlds of acceptance from everyone you care about.”

We’re all prone to justify our behavior—including when we incrementally tip-toe into the seemingly shallow waters of sin and when we’re deluged by depravity. But God’s Word tells us that brothers and sisters can cut through those lies and bring us back to the truth. To maintain peak spiritual fitness, we need the frequent, even daily, exhortations from others to ground us in the truth.

2. To Build Spiritual Fitness, Pursue Resistance Training

If we never use our muscles, they will atrophy and weaken. The biggest spiritual muscle we possess is the muscle of faith. Faith is vital to our battle against sin, and yet our flesh absolutely hates using it. Often, the only time our faith muscles are truly exercised is when we realize that our sight muscles aren’t getting the job done.

Our salvation does not depend on the strength of our faith but on the object of our faith, Jesus Christ. And yet, this does not negate the real necessity of growing in our faith—becoming stronger.

When life is easy, the bills are paid, the body is strong, relationships are peaceful, and work is fulfilling, it’s easy to rely on sight alone. But once life gets hard, we face a fork in the road: will we walk by faith or by sight?

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