The sun beamed mercilessly. "Before you graduate from this place, you'll run three miles in under 25 minutes," barked a Marine Corps drill instructor. His words sounded like a death sentence to those of us who aspired to become chaplains pastors in a military setting. During our civilian pastorates, most of us had led less active lives. But now at the Navy's chaplain school, the rules were different. In this new milieu physical readiness was an absolute essential. Miraculously each of us survived the three-mile "freedom run" as we entered military service and ministry to God and country.
During the past 19 years my thoughts have often returned to the challenges that confronted me in my chaplain school training. I can still hear the staccato commands of my drill instructor. As a minister determined to maximize my ministry potential, my concern for spiritual fitness now takes precedence over my quest for physical excellence. Paul's admonition, directed at a young pastor, seems most appropriate: "Keep yourself in training for a godly life. Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, be cause it promises life both for the present and for the future" (1 Tim. 4:7, 8).*
Commenting on this passage, Warren Wiersbe observes: "When I see high school football squads and baseball teams going through their calisthenics under the hot summer sun, I am re minded that there are spiritual exercises that I ought to be doing (Heb. 5:14).
Prayer, meditation, self-examination, fellowship, service, sacrifice, and submission to the will of others, witness all of these can assist me, through the Spirit, to become a more godly person." 1
My spirit resonates with Wiersbe's sentiments. Combining physical and spiritual exercises has, in fact, strengthened my relationship with Jesus. For example, during my daily jog, I listen to Bible tapes. The experience is simply transforming: the Bible has come alive for me in a way I never expected. Spiritual calisthenics does make a difference.
Importance of spiritual fitness
How important is spiritual fitness for clergy? Because of our ministerial calling, some assume we stay spiritually fit simply by doing our work. Yes, we are remunerated for studying the Bible, for participating in worship, for lifting our hearts in prayer, just like basketball players are remunerated for doing their jobs and for training to be fit.
The sad truth is that just because we do our work, we as pastors are not necessarily spiritually fit. Didn't Jesus confront one of his disciples, who would soon preach on the day of Pentecost, and warn him of the danger of falling short of the standard of spiritual excellence? After Peter had declared his undying loyalty, our Lord challenged him with these words: "Simon, Simon! Listen! Satan has received permission to test all of you, to separate the good from the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff. I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you turn back to me. you must strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31, 32).
Clergy---an enemy target
Why should ministers be so concerned about spiritual fitness? Shouldn't all Christians press toward the mark of the prize in Christ Jesus? While each believer should grow in grace, ministers need to be even more vigilant. The fall of a minister has more far-reaching con sequences than that of a member. As a leader of the flock of God, a spiritually unfit shepherd can endanger the sheep.
Richard Baxter, the great Puritan preacher, believed ministers must be prepared for greater temptations than the average Christian. "Take heed to yourselves," he once wrote to ministers, "because the tempter will more ply you with his temptations than other men. If you will be the leader against the prince of darkness, he will spare you no further than God restraineth him. He beareth you the greatest malice to those that are engaged to do him the greatest mischief. As he hateth Christ more than any of us, because he is the General of the field, the Captain of our salvation, and doth more than all the world besides against his kingdom; so doth he hate the leaders under him, more than the common soldier: he knows what a rout he may make among them, if the leaders fall before their eyes."2
Spiritual disciplines
What spiritual disciplines can help produce spiritual fitness? Are there spiritual calisthenics to enable one to maintain a spiritual glow? Even as a variety of exercises bring positive results in physical fitness, so it is in spiritual fitness. Simplicity, confession, fasting, meditation, worship, celebration, prayer, silence, submission, and study can each contribute to spiritual fitness. While my focus will concentrate on only five of these disciplines, remember God's power can make any spiritual exercise valuable.
• Study. Paul, old and awaiting martyrdom, wrote to Timothy to bring his books (2 Tim. 4:13). The great preacher, having written works that would last as long as history, still wanted books. He enjoyed direct communion with Jesus, yet he wanted books. He had preached for three decades, but still wanted books. Paul was a student all his life.
Study is an essential component of ministry. Preparing sermons, researching and writing, conducting spiritual development classes, helping a counselee each of these ministerial activities usu ally involves some study.
The study that Paul intended to do went beyond sermon preparation or doing research to write an epistle. Paul studied to nourish his soul, to prevent spiritual malnutrition.
What should ministers study to maintain spiritual fitness? Obviously, we must study God's Word. I have often found it helpful to read through a book of the Bible, a portion each day. This practice nourishes me spiritually. We should also read spiritual classics by such writers as Augustine, Thomas a Kempis, Broth er Lawrence, Blaise Pascal, George Fox, William Law, Ellen White, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thomas Kelly, and C. S. Lewis. We should also study nonverbal books, such as nature and relationships. With our ears eager to hear the voice of God, we may find sermons in stones, and books in babbling brooks.
• Self-examination. Once after listening to a powerful sermon, I asked the preacher for the secret of his power. He told me he had spent the night in prayer and soul-searching.
Do we really engage in substantive self-examination? This important spiritual discipline can mean the difference between a productive and unproductive life. Benjamin Franklin accomplished great things in his life through the use of self-examination. At the end of the day he would reflect to see how well he had mastered the virtues of silence, temperance, order, frugality, industry, sincerity, moderation, humility, cleanliness, and others.3 Though he never reached his ideal, Franklin's life was immeasurably enriched.
• Prayer. Most ministers know that prayer imparts life to the soul. When life's vicissitudes disconcert us, prayer provides a wonderful source of strength. Jesus frequently sought the strength-renewing reservoir of private prayer. If our chief pastor and exemplar depend ed so totally upon this wonderful exercise for His spiritual fitness, should we be any less dependent?
Charles Spurgeon assiduously applied himself to private prayer and believed other clerics should do the same. He wrote: "If there be any man under heaven, who is compelled to carry out the precept 'Pray without ceasing,' surely it is the Christian minister. He has peculiar temptations, special trials, singular difficulties, and remarkable duties; he has to deal with God in awful relationships, and with men in mysterious interests; he there fore needs much more grace than common men, and as he knows this, he is led constantly to cry to the strong for strength, and say T will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.'"4
I have found it helpful to use scripture as a springboard for prayer. Pouring a little water into an old pump primes it, and the pump begins to work. Likewise, the water of prayer begins to flow in my spirit when primed with the water of God's Word. I also seek to keep a prayer list. Although it's only a 3 x 5 card, it helps me keep a focus and avoid distractions during intercessory prayer. These simple strategies have enlivened my prayer life.
• Silence. As a tool of spiritual fitness, silence provides a powerful force for growth. Ralph Heynen puts it this way: "God's usual way of working is in silence. The breaking of the day or the setting of the sun or the falling of the dew are not heard by the human ear. The character of a man is built like the temple of Solomon that rose in silence on Zion's hill."5
Silence can impart valuable spiritual strength. But we run from it. We can't drive without the distraction of the radio. We can't exercise without background music. Should we not realize and practice that there is a time for silence and a time to talk (see Eccl. 3:7).
• Submission. Submission refers to self-denial without self-hatred; it en tails embracing the revolutionary life of subordination taught by Jesus.6 Sub mission means dying daily to self, taking up the cross of service, and fol lowing Jesus. "The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought. The yielding of self, surrendering all to the will of God, and being clothed with humility, possessing that love that is pure, peaceable, and easy to be entreated, full of gentleness and good fruits, is not an easy attainment. Yet it is [our] privilege and [our] duty be a perfect overcomer here. The soul must submit to God before it can be renewed in knowledge and true holiness."7
It is not easy for ministers to practice submission. People place us on pedestals. We receive so much attention. Because of the high esteem we receive, we tend to forget the importance of servanthood, and instead like the disciples seek the chief seats in the kingdom.
According to Robert Greenleaf, author of Servant Leadership, submission and leadership are not antithetical. "Servant and leader can these two roles be fused in one real person, in all levels of status or calling? If so, can that person live and be productive in the real world of the present? My sense of the present leads me to say yes to both questions."8 Ministers in full submission to the lordship of Christ will be servant leaders of His people.
Even with the spiritual calisthenics of study, self-examination, prayer, silence, and submission, the journey of maintaining spiritual fitness will always have hills and valleys. Like one of our preaching predecessors dis covered, God can empower us to forget what is behind us and press toward the prize of Jesus Christ.
* All Scripture passages in this article are from Today's English Version.
1. Warren Wiersbe. The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wheaton, 111.: Victor Books, 1989), vol. 2, p. 226.
2. Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth, 1983), p. 74.
3. George L. Rogers, Ed., Benjamin Franklin's The Art of Virtue (Eden Prairie, Minn.: Acorn Pub., 1990).
4. Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, (Lynchburg, Va.: Old Time Gospel Hour, 1985), p. 41.
5. Ralph Heynen, Building Your Spiritual Strength (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1965), p. 98.
6. Richard Foster, The Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: Harper and Row Pub., Inc., 1978), pp. 96, 97.
7. Ellen White, Pastoral Ministry (Silver Spring, Md.: Ministerial Association of SDA, 1995), p. 20.
8. Robert Greenleaf, Servant Leadership (New York: Paulist Press, 1977), p. 7.
