Let's Go Outside

I was at the local leisure centre on Sunday (where we meet for church) and as I was walking past the gym I noticed a number of people in there going about their business. It suddenly struck me as kind of interesting.

Most of the fitness machines face the windows looking outside.

Yesterday’s weather was just wonderful, yet here was a bunch of people inside, on things like walking machines and exercise bikes. I thought how much nicer it would be to go for a brisk walk outside in the fresh air – taking in the smells and feeling the gentle breeze. How wonderful it would have been instead of sitting on a bike that went nowhere to actually get out for a ride looking at all the sights and experiencing the sense of accomplishment that comes with climbing a hill, coupled with the thrill of the downhill.

It reminded me of a cartoon I saw once of a man sitting in front of his television looking at a picture of some beautiful countryside. Just behind his head was a window, and out of the window you could see the exact same scenery. He had grown so accustomed to experiencing life through someone else’s eyes that he didn’t even recognise that the real thing was just outside his door.

The gym experience has cloned real life stuff and shoved it in a nice safe room. Now, instead of getting out and excersizing while experiencing life, people can stay inside and get their daily dose of excersize.

People can walk on the treadmill all day and still be in the same place once they’re finished, never having experienced what it’s really like to go for a real walk. They can pedal like crazy without feeling the adrenaline rush of cornering at speed or the challenge of seeing a cyclist up ahead and chasing them down. They miss the opportunity to see the ever changing scenery with every pedal stroke. Once finished they can climb off their machine and be in the same place as when they started, without seeing anything that could have impacted their lives, or let them touch the life of another.

I wonder if that’s what it’s like for many people in churches. Do we sometimes gather together in our safe rooms and go through the motions without actually going anywhere?

Excersizing in a gym can be empowering if you use the fitness you gain to to go out and do something; but if it’s an end in itself, why bother?

Are we getting all the spiritual excersize we can handle yet never using that fitness to go out and engage the world for Christ? Are we on spiritual treadmills trying to tell ourselves that we’re getting ready to walk boldly into this world yet never moving an inch from where we started? Are we too afraid to get out there where the traffic can be dangerous? Are we afraid of taking a wrong turn and getting lost in the big bad world so we have to stay inside where it’s safe?

We’ve been in the gym pretending to do life for too long. Let’s get out and do it for real.



Posted by Rodney Olsen

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