I joined a gym 18 months ago. Throughout the CrossFit community there are some rules, some are written down but—more often than not—some are simply understood.
Here are a few:
• Check your ego at the door. You are here to get better, stronger, faster, fitter. You aren’t here to show off how awesome you are.
• Be coachable. Your trainers have trained for this job. Let them help you.
• Introduce yourself to people you don’t know. It takes guts just to try CrossFit; try to make it a little easier on newcomers simply by being friendly.
• If you are having a great day and finish early, cheer for the people who aren’t done yet, who might be struggling through their workout.
• Realize that sometimes just walking in the door is a success.
• If someone hasn’t been able to workout for a while, hug that person when he or she walks in. Or at least say, “It’s great to see you!”
• Tell your trainers about any injuries. How can they help work with or around the pain if they don’t know about it?
• You get out what you put into it. Going through the motions doesn’t change anything. Want to get better? Lift heavier weights; move faster.
“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).
My gym is fabulous, but it’s for this world only. Our churches have an infinitely more important message about eternal life.
So if a gym can be this encouraging, I can’t help but wonder how the body of Christ might incorporate these ideas to make the church a more appealing place to be. How can I, personally, use these “rules” to help make the church a more appealing place to be?
