Choose to Move

Written by Journey Magazine

God's design for the world was a perfect plan. He finished His work by creating the most complex of all living things – made in His own image and capable of a multitude of tasks. In Genesis 2, God gave the first human, Adam, an assignment to care for the Garden of Eden. He made Adam strong enough to do this job without the help of machinery, electricity, power tools, or transportation. Throughout the Bible, people were required to be physically capable of walking long distances, gardening and farming with hand tools, digging wells and carrying heavy loads.

However, times have changed. Today, modern conveniences do the work for us. Most of us no longer rely heavily on physical exertion to accomplish daily jobs. The catch is that our physical bodies are still created to move! The use of technology has resulted in an extreme imbalance of activity. People pay the price for this lack of movement with illness, fatigue, weight gain, and stress. We have a choice: Either we must work at a physically challenging job, or we must exercise to stay in good physical condition.

According to the American Heart Association, if you are seated most of the day, you are characterized as having a sedentary lifestyle. A sedentary lifestyle can lead to stiff joints and lower back pain and is one of the main risk factors for coronary heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. It can result in a body that is not well enough to serve God as He intended. Other studies reveal the impact of life without regular exercise:

1. Heart disease is five times more likely to occur in people who engage in little or no activity;
2. Being inactive is the same as being 20 percent overweight;
3. Inactivity carries as much risk for heart disease as smoking a pack of cigarettes every day.

Becoming more active is as easy as walking out your front door and around your neighborhood. Think of ways you can add physical activity into your daily lifestyle. If you choose to move more and use your body as God designed it, you will reap the benefits of better health.

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