Don't give up hope if all your well-laid fitness plans have gone nowhere. There is a better way.
Why your workout plans fail
“It starts with you. Do you want your life, your health, and your body to change? It starts with you. I mean, didn’t Jesus even say, ‘Pick up your mat?’”
Does this sound familiar to you?
That little “encouragement” from a friend was meant to motivate me. It was meant to inspire me. It was meant to activate my mind by prompting my faith.
But it didn’t.
It felt heavy. I was spiraling into this place where “picking up my mat” was the last thing I felt like doing. Being told it was all up to me made me feel like I was already defeated.
I’d been sick with dis-ease for many years. Physically moving my body was what my body needed, but it was also challenging. The bottom line was that it hurt to move, and that pain was very real.
“Pick up my mat,” she said.
“It starts with me,” she said.
Her words echoed in my head over and over and reached my heart with shame. The lies told me I’d never be well. I was too far gone to change things now. My lot in life was lying on “this mat,” broken and diseased, all because I “didn’t have it in me,”… and according to her, it started with me.
Crying as I drove home, I asked Jesus, no, I begged Him, to help me pick up my mat when I didn’t feel like it. To “figure out” what that looked like when I didn’t want to move. I begged Him to make me want to. I suggested He push the magic button to help me motivate myself. I asked Him to help me take back control.
I saw myself as a sorry mess, unable to get this mat up off the floor by myself. I mean, if my friend interpreted this passage correctly, then it was up to me to do this thing. Thankfully, I decided to read the passage myself.
The best workout plan starts with Jesus
John 5: 1-15 is the story of a man who had been disabled for 38 years. As someone who experiences physical chronic pain, I can relate to him. Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” (5:6). To my surprise, the man didn’t answer with a resolute, motivated“yes;” he answered with excuses. Whewf. I felt that.
The man said, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes ahead of me.” (5:7). Then, Jesus leaned in with words I needed to hear over the condemnation I felt from my well-intentioned friend.
“Get up, Jesus told him, Pick up your mat and walk. Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat and started to walk.”
And then the message hit me.
Health and wholeness don’t begin with me picking up my mat. It begins with me hearing the voice of Jesus. It begins with me knowing the voice of my Lord. It begins with that! Pressure off! Shame slayed!
It’s not my job to “go first,” to start, to make a plan, set a course, or know the way. It’s not about me controlling anything. It’s about me knowing God leads. He goes first. He makes the way. He speaks. I listen. He begins the process, AND He also completes it.
Pick up my mat? Sure, I have some “going” to do, but first, I listen; I hear; I know my Father’s voice.
Health and wholeness don’t begin with me picking up my mat. It begins with me hearing the voice of Jesus.
True health and wellness begins with God
Then, John 5:9 takes it a step further. “Instantly, the man got well, THEN, picked up his mat and started to walk.”
Instantly. Did you catch that?
He was not healed in his mat picking up skills.
He was not healed in his going.
He was not healed in gathering or preparing, and
Especially not in his excuses or complaining.
No.
He was healed in hearing.
He was healed in knowing.
He was healed in believing the One who spoke to him was Truth.
He was healed instantly because his heart knew the voice of Truth had gone first.
Jesus spoke. He went first.
Can I set this out for you today too, Friend? You don’t have to go first or strive. True health and wholeness don’t begin with you. Picking up your own mat is not where you get your motivation, healing or get-well status.
It begins with the kindness of Jesus. It begins with His voice.
Do you know it?
You have to know Who is calling you. You have to know Him.
It begins there. Get up, hear the invitation, and understand the heart behind it is Love.
Then, pick up your mat and start to walk. Soon your “I don’t want to” will become your “get to.”
Don’t feel like moving today? Don’t want to pick up the mat?
I beckon you. Know His voice. Lean into the Love that asks, “Do you want to get well?”
Have faith, He goes before you.
Kay Gleaves lives in the heart of the Midwest, where she homesteads with her husband. A graduate of Platoon 26, her vision is through her writing and Reving, she will audaciously encourage and embolden others to defeat lies, break chains and radically believe that they are loved beyond measure and made to delight and flourish “for such a time as this.” Kay has the blessing of leading a ChairRX and Senior Gentle Movement class in her local community center.
Your Health Journey Begins Here
Start your fitness journey with us!
