My younger brother runs marathons. He intensely trains for them in the months, weeks, and days leading up to race day. Sometimes those races involve particularly difficult obstacles, like running up a mountain or in Death Valley where the heat coming off the asphalt can melt your shoes while you run. He trains accordingly: running up and down hills, lifting weights, or even working out in the sauna to increase his heat resistance. In training season, he eats a certain way to fuel and prepare his body. Paul draws a comparison between running in races and the spiritual training for our lives following Christ. He explains that all athletes are disciplined in their training to win a prize that will fade, but followers of Christ train for the purpose of receiving a reward that will last forever.

In the New Testament, Timothy is a young pastor who was discipled by Paul for ministry work. In Paul’s first letter to the young pastor, he includes a powerful bit of instruction: “…train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:7–8) We live in a culture that is obsessed with the physical, but he is telling us that physical fitness is far less vital than spiritual fitness. Paul says it is “valuable in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” In the ancient church, seasons like Lent and Advent were seen as times of intensified training leading up to the big day.

The ancient church believed wholeheartedly in spiritually preparing for major spiritual events.They used seasons like Lent (the 40 days preceding Easter) and Advent as times of preparation. God stepped from heaven to earth to save us from our sins. He did it because he loved us when we did not love him. Preparing for Christmas during the weeks that precede it involves more than simply decorating trees and listening to Christmas music to get yourself into the spirit of the season. It should also include spiritual training for celebrating God’s arrival in our world.

You might wonder how we train spiritually. Everywhere you look there are advertisements for fitness gadgets and meal plans to reshape your flesh, but how do you reshape your soul? There are plenty of ways to do it and still more ways that don’t help or make things worse. Daily prayer, reading the scriptures, reflecting on God’s love for us and his work to provide our salvation, worship, fellowship with the church, serving, and many other practices are prescribed in the scripture as exercises for spiritual fitness.

One passage in particular that is included in Advent devotions is found in 1 John 4:19-21. John tells us that the reason we love like Christ is because he first loved us. He goes on to say that loving God leads to love for others. This is one vital component of spiritual training. When we focus on the love of God, it results in loving others and everything that entails. Gazing at the love of God as a means of training for “race day”, for our walk with Jesus, and for eternity. 1 John 3:16-20 tells us that Christ freely laying down his life for us shows us how to love each other. Using Advent as a time of preparation for Christmas involves focusing on the person, work, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Understanding the depth of his love for us changes us and gives Christmas a deeper meaning.