Since December, I have been the proud owner of a Jawbone UP band. In a nutshell, the UP band is a glorified pedometer (that also tracks your sleep cycle) that you wear around your wrist 24/7. So, since December, I’ve been tracking my steps, my active time, and how many calories a day I generally burn.

Two weeks ago, a group of 20 of us set out on a life-changing journey, also known as a Steps of Paul tour. In 10 days, we visited roughly 18 different cities, spending anywhere from 20 minutes to 4 hours at each location. If you’ve never been to Turkey, you may not understand the topography of all of this travel we were doing. I would encourage you to check out my latest podcast entitled “Asia Minor” to get a better picture of the lay of the land.

Now, back to this UP band. You see, pre-life changing trip, I was averaging anywhere between 4000 to 6000 steps a day. In Turkey, on the other hand, we were averaging between 14,000 and 18,000, also known as 6-8 miles a day, mostly uphill. Can you say sore legs?! Those first few days, I could definitely tell that I was getting more of a workout than normal. Fortunately, though, after the first week, I wasn’t getting sore anymore. Why? Because my muscles were strengthening.

If you’ve ever gotten into a workout routine, you know that the first week is brutal. Last summer, I started running and doing workouts from home. After the first day of stair calf raises, I could barely get out of bed. Why? Because my body wasn’t used to the workout and it was resisting!

When the Bible speaks about our spiritual lives, it talks about our “race”. Paul, speaking to Timothy, said that he’d “fought the good fight”. These words denote work and discipline and training, and much like a physical workout, a spiritual workout may leave you with some sore muscles.

Like our bodies resist and ache and burn when we start building muscles, our spiritual lives may do the same. It may hurt to cut out certain TV shows or movies from our routine; it may hurt getting up earlier to ensure we have time for Bible study and prayer; and it may hurt telling those we love that they are involved in activities that will lead them to eternal destruction. The good news is, if we will stay the course, our spiritual muscles will build. The first week may burn, but by week two, you’ll be stronger and more stable in your spiritual race.

A word of warning, though: if you ever slack off in your spiritual workout, you’ll be forced to put yourself back through the burn later on. Just because I’d worked out last summer didn’t mean my body was ready for the miles and miles of walking I would do this spring, and why? Because I hadn’t kept training! That is why, spiritually speaking, it is crucial that we maintain good works (Titus 3:8), continue to study (2 Timothy 2:15), and always abound in the work of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58).

Sure, it may sting initially as you try to strengthen your spiritual muscles, but just remember – the Christian race is all about stamina (endurance), and you won’t have any without strong muscles.