Become Fit Through Submission

I often think when we evaluate others or ourselves, we base it on the title of submitter. It reminds me that when you call yourself a submitter it can be something like having joined a gym or fitness club. The important thing for me to remember is: The work doesn’t finish when you join the gym. When you join the gym, the work begins.

[49:14] The Arabs said, “We are Mu’mens (believers).” Say, “You have not believed; what you should say is, ‘We are Muslims (submitters),’ until belief is established in your hearts.” If you obey GOD and His messenger, He will not put any of your works to waste. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.

We know joining the gym is not enough through verses like [10:90] We delivered the Children of Israel across the sea. Pharaoh and his troops pursued them, aggressively and sinfully. When drowning became a reality for him, he said, “I believe that there is no god except the One in whom the Children of Israel have believed; I am a submitter.”

He joined but never worked out.

He became like the person in the joke who says: “I’ve just been to the gym and there’s a new machine. I only used it for an hour as I started to feel sick. It’s good though, it does everything—Kitkats, Mars bars, Snickers and chips!”

We can take a look at 41:33 to see that ‘works righteousness’ is part of the verse. The words alone are not enough. [41:33] Who can utter better words than one who invites to GOD, works righteousness, and says, “I am one of the submitters”?

I came across an interesting blog post that compares joining a gym to the benefits of a place of prayer.

The author reminds us that people join a gym for personal development. They want to grow. We know how we feel when we haven’t exercised or eaten well. We want to do better. How then do our souls feel when we haven’t fed them? What happens when we’ve been distracted in our prayer and irreverent in our meditation? We get hungry and hopefully we remember we’ve joined submission.

 

The writer says: “Not only do these fitness programs focus on physical health, but they also contain an element of general self-improvement.  They are not about merely maintaining your lifestyle and fitness level—they are about improving.  Even the most fit participants are looking to press and challenge themselves. A desire for personal development and health (certainly in the sense of spiritual health) are big motivations for my active faith life. I’m not looking just to maintain some base level of faith practice: there is room for spiritual growth and improvement.  There are always ways for me to grow in love and faith and to encounter my faults and failings.”

God reminds us that we were created in stages, and we move through stages in our lives. [71:14] He is the One who created you in stages. [84:19] You will move from stage to stage.

This is a reminder to me that we can always be looking to make continuous, incremental improvements no matter how small. Otherwise why did we join the gym of submission? We also don’t join submission to show off as the joke that says, “I don’t always go to the gym, but when I do, I make sure Facebook knows about it.”

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