As some of you may know, over the past few weeks I have been training for a triathlon. Trizou is a short triathlon taking place in early May. I’m really looking forward to it. The main problem with this is that I can’t run a triathlon… at least not yet anyway. While I fully believe I’ll be able to run and finish this race by the time it takes place, it’s become quite clear that I’m not ready yet. Hence the training.
Training is an interesting thing. The word “train” in it’s verb form has it’s root in an Old English word which relates to dragging something. This makes sense because once you start to do something your body isn’t used to doing, it sure feels like you’re dragging a sack of sand! To train also means to form or to discipline. Not discipline in the punitive sense but in the self-disciplined self-controlled actions sense of the word. So in training for a triathlon, in effect I’m looking at my current form (both mental and physical), looking at the form I feel is appropriate for a triathlete, and then figuring out what I need to do to get from point A to point B. If this sounds fairly straightforward, it’s because it is. In my case, training involves exactly what you would expect: eating food that is better for me, exercising my body to build strength and endurance, and practicing the events that make up the upcoming race. What I need to do is quite clear, but the difficulty lies in actually doing these obvious things.
Exercise is work. Work can be rewarding in some senses, but my base desires for comfort fly in the face of needless exertion. Lifting weights can be uncomfortable. Distance running is tiring and can lead to sore muscles and joints. Swimming is an exercise in temper management (frustration with the difficulty) and humility (my lovely wife swims like a fish). This work provides ample purchase for the temptation to turn from my intended course of hard work and discipline and instead sit on my butt. Running a triathlon also requires that I train myself mentally to reject this temptation and stay the course that will keep me on track to performance.
I generally hold to a reductionist view for most things in that I believe that most seemingly complex systems and ideas can be broken down into smaller, simpler concepts. I believe this applies in my current situation. My higher functioning mind holds being healthy and disciplined as good and valuable things. I end up being tempted by my more base desires for immediate comfort and at times succumbing. When this happens I’m placing my instant gratification above what I know to be more important. Basically, I believe this is self-idolatry and I’m guilty of it. This is a problem I believe to be common and fundamental to so many of our struggles as humans and especially as Christians.
Paul describes the Christian life on Earth as a race.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV)
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Paul is one of our great Church fathers. Obviously if we wanted to look to a human to emulate in our Christian lives, Paul would make anyone’s short list. But even Paul struggles with this issue of self control in the face of temptation:
Romans 7:15 (ESV)
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Does this mean we’re doomed? Certainly not! What it does mean is that it doesn’t come easy. As I’ve been training for this race, I’ve noticed the similarity between a race and our walks as Christians which caused Paul to use such an analogy. We speak often of spiritual disciplines: prayer, fellowship, discipleship, study of God’s Word, etc., but what we skip over too often is how these things are not simple for most Christians. It’s a struggle against our own self-idolatry of time and effort to do these things that we as Christians clearly understand to be beneficial and necessary.
One other thing that I’ve noticed about training and temptation in general is that self-delusion is among the enemy’s greatest weapons against us. If we refuse to admit to ourselves that we are being tempted to do something we would otherwise not want to do, then we are much more likely to capitulate. If we take the time to stop and think about the situation we are in and why we are considering bad options, it helps quite a lot. Once we’ve identified that we’re being tempted, it’s much easier to either choose the righteous path or seek help from God and fellow Christians to help pull us out of the mess we’ve created for ourselves.
As they say, “knowing is half the battle.”
-Allyn