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Exercise, May 6
Keeping Physically Fit
The glory of young men is their strength.
Proverbs 20:29
Another precious blessing is proper exercise. Each organ and muscle
has its work to do in the living organism. Every wheel in the machinery
must be a living, active, working wheel. Nature’s fine and wonderful
works need to be kept in active motion in order to accomplish the object
for which they were designed.
Bind up an arm, even for a few weeks, then free it from its bands,
and you will see that it is weaker than the one you have been using
moderately during the same time. Inactivity produces the same effect
upon the whole muscular system.
Inactivity is a fruitful cause of disease. Exercise quickens and equal-
izes the circulation of the blood.
For a healthy young man, stern, severe exercise is strengthening to
the whole system.... Without such exercise the mind cannot be kept in
working order. It becomes inactive, unable to put forth the sharp, quick
action that will give scope to its powers....
All the heavenly beings are in constant activity, and the Lord Jesus,
in His lifework, has given an example for every one. He went about
“doing good.” God has established the law of obedient action. Silent
but ceaseless, the objects of His creation do their appointed work. The
ocean is in constant motion. The springing grass, which today is, and
tomorrow is cast into the oven, does its errand, clothing the fields with
beauty. The leaves are stirred to motion, and yet no hand is seen to touch
them. The sun, moon, and stars are useful and glorious in fulfilling their
mission.... And man, his mind and body created in God’s own similitude,
must be active in order to fill his appointed place.
Action gives power.
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