I despise Fifer Scissors

I really do. I realize to hate something is pretty strong. But I think I can safely say that I hate Fifer Scissors. Fifer Scissors is one of the exercise moves in the P90x ab routine. In the exercise, you are suppose to lie on your back with your arms down on at the side of your body. Then you start with your right leg extended straight into the air and your left let extended and lifted just an inch or so above the ground. You hold that position for about 2 seconds then switch legs- left extending into the air and right hovering above the floor. Repeat 25 times. I hate it.

For some reason, every other exercise is fine with me, but this one makes me crazy. I dislike it so much, I have (a few times) negotiated with myself weather or not I will do the exercise. It generally goes like this, “Well, I’m doing all the other exercises so I think I can skip this one. Yeah, and plus it’s late. So skipping this one means I’m 2 minutes closer to going to bed and sleep is an essential part of good health. Okay, I’m going to skip it.”

Then one day I had this thought… it came somewhere around the 12th move (that’s generally when I  remember how much I dislike this exercise). The thought was this: I need to change my thinking. I need realize that I am frustrated with my out-of-shape core more than I hate the scissors exercise. The whole point is supposed to have a better, stronger core. And Fifer Scissors is part of accomplishing that goal. So now I push through them. And when I reach move 12, I remind myself that I hate having a flabby stomach more than I dislike Fifer Scissors.

So now is where we learn our discipleship lesson… Did you see it coming? I was pushing through the exercise one day and it dawned on me. The way I have begun to think about Fifer Scissors and pushing though to achieve my goal, is similar to the mindset I need to have concerning sin. There is no doubt that I do not want sin in my life. And there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that God hate sin. (Just read through Leviticus.)

But often, I think of the practice of removing sin from my life as more difficult than just living with the sin. It seems easier to just not think about the jokes I’m laughing at or telling, than to retrain my thinking according to Ephesians 4:29. Or it’s seems easier to hold onto bitterness instead of love. Or it is easier to call complaining “venting,” instead of realizing that it’s actually contrary to the way Jesus wants me to live (Philippians 2:14-16). But if I’m going to live the way Jesus wants me to and calls me to, then I need to change my thinking.

I need to filter what I’m doing and saying through a Christ-like mindset. I have to train myself to think according to God’s will (Romans 12:1-2). I need to hate my sin more than the practice of retraining my thinking. But don’t forget the good news that goes with changing our thinking-

¹There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For the law ofthe Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodiesthrough his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:1-11)

We have God on our side through the process. He is the one who grants us the strength we need in the process- if we will take it! And here’s the other great part, Fifer Scissors are a lot easier to do now than when I first began. And in the same way, if I continue to allow God to shape my thinking, it will become easier down the road too.