Warm Up Your Core

Today is a cold January day, and I just came back from a run. Here in North Carolina, it's 38 degrees outside; not quite freezing, but when it's windy it sure feels like a lot more chilly. The cold is one of the most prohibitive things about my goal to run three times a week, and today is no exception. It takes a lot of willpower to just get out the door. 

When I do get out the door, it's easier to continue going. But the cold air is an oppressive force, howling at my uncovered ears (I usually wear a headband, but today I forgot) and nipping at my hands and feet. Within seconds I'm clenching my fists together within the sleeve of my hoodie in a mostly fruitless effort to keep them from feeling frostbitten. But the wind goes straight through the fabric as if it's not even substantive enough to keep out the air, and I resign myself to half an hour of shivers. 

My mind wanders, and after continuing on jogging for a few minutes, I realize that my toes are starting to feel hot. Fifteen minutes of walking and running have warmed up my core so that my fingers and toes are actually dealing with a surplus of warmth. Instead of clenching my fingers tight to my palm to conserve body heat, I've warmed up enough that I can run normally, with better form. And I'm warm enough that I want to continue on, instead of counting down the minutes until I can turn around and head home. 

I've been told before that once your core warms up, your whole body follows, but I always wrote it off as an "athlete" sort of thing (I'm no athlete, and on ordinary days I much prefer a good book and a cup of tea to a— *shudders* —workout). But it makes sense. If your core, if your center, is warm, then your whole body will be warm, and even more than warm, hot. And so if you want to keep your fingers from freezing off, get your body moving. It's counterintuitive, but that's often how the truth is.

In the Christian walk, the same principle holds true. Your core—your relationship with Jesus—is the most important thing to develop. Often, Christians can get stuck on the particulars. Am I tithing enough? we wonder, or maybe it's Am I praying enough? We think about the ministries at our church or school, and wonder if we ought to step up and participate in them. Maybe we should start a Bible study of our own. But we don't, because we feel far too weak and inadequate to minister to anyone else—or, if we do, it feels forced or falsified. 

The problem with this situation is not that it's bad to participate in church ministries or start Bible studies. The problem is the motive. In our scenario, we're doing works because we're making ourselves do the works, not because they're good things to do. They're a duty, not an expression of the secret fire within us that Jesus lit when he brought us to him. Instead of hot, we're frozen, and we're trying to make the ice warm us up on a cold winter day: that's not how ice works. 

So, what should we do? Should we reject all things that sound even a touch legalistic? Of course not—again, the problem isn't with the actions, it's with the motives. The solution to this problem is to warm up your core. Instead of prioritizing good deeds and outward services, prioritize your own personal relationship with God. Spend time in the Scriptures. Pray. Journal, if it helps you. Talk to other believers for encouragement. Pay attention to your personal growth in Christ, and depend on Him for strength. And above all, never lose sight of the end goal of all the ministries: to spread the Gospel and encourage the church. 

I'll conclude by carrying on the running metaphor in the words of Paul: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith." (Hebrews 12:1-2a, ESV.) 

We have a race to run. God help us warm up by running it.