Take a Stand against Sitting

Has there ever been a time in history when people sat more?  Sitting disease is rampant in the U.S.; it is killing us. The colloquial term sounds cute enough: couch potato. But there’s nothing cute about chronic health problems, or premature death, brought on by excessive sitting. Government statistics tell us that half of Americans report sitting more than 6 hours a day. People who sit more than 11 hours a day have a 40 percent higher risk for chronic diseases than non-sitters. But the good news is that even sitters who exercise at least 5 hours per week are as healthy as non-sitters.

So what’s my point? In all his letters, one of Paul’s favorite metaphors for Christian living is the word “walk.” Of course the prime meaning of “walk” is motion. So why do so many Christians think if they are sitting in a pew (or cushioned chair) in a Sunday morning service they are making progress. I know that pastors try hard to promote active participation among the sitters. In our sedentary culture, it would be all too easy to produce a generation of “sitters” instead of “walkers.” Perhaps this explains why we are seeing so many spiritual health troubles—lack of appetite for the Word, powerless prayer life, spiritual depression, and joyless living, to name a few.

Think of this. If we are ‘following’ Jesus, we ought to be moving! A 'sitting follower' is an oxymoron!  “Whoever claims to abide in Jesus must walk as He did” (1 John 2:6).