Stop Blaming Everyone Else | Ezekiel 18:20

Devotional

“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

Ezekiel was a priest taken captive during the first Babylonian Exile that was known for his prophesies of God. His book is split into four parts: the call of Ezekiel, a warning to Israel, a warning to surrounding nations, and hope for the future. Our verse today comes from part two.

In the warning, God says that because Israel broke their covenant, there will be a second exile that will be worse than the first. The temple and city will be destroyed as well.

As Ezekiel spreads his warning, chapter 18 plays a key role. It is written to remind Israel that each person is responsible for their own sins. Moreover, a sinful person can turn from his sinful ways and save their life. Likewise, a righteous person can turn from their righteous ways and they shall die.

It is no one else’s responsibility to save us; we must seek the Lord on our own.

God wants all of us to repent and turn aside from our wicked ways, but He will not make that decision for us.

While this is crucial to understand spiritually, this applies to all areas of our life. In fitness, no one is going to lift the weights for us. We can’t tag out when we get tired, go home, and not put in the work.

In fitness, it’s easy to blame our schedule, our genetics, our upbringing, or our circumstances. While these things can make progress more difficult, they cannot make our decisions for us.

God has given each of us the responsibility to choose. We cannot rely on someone else’s faith, discipline, or obedience. The decision to follow Him is one that each of us must make for ourselves.

Workout

We’re now on our third Sunday circuit! By now, we should be feeling a little more comfortable with back-to-back exercises, so this week we’ll shorten our rest breaks. Keep that heart rate high!

We’re keeping some of our basic full-body exercises. Pull-ups, dips, and kettlebell swings should be staples in any conditioning circuit. We’re also adding farmer’s carries and side bends to help strengthen our core and improve posture.

Conditioning Circuit

3 rounds; 1m rest between rounds

Row machine: 2 minutes

Kettlebell Swings: 20 reps

Pull-up: 8 reps

Dips: 12 reps

One-arm Farmer’s Carry: 45 seconds

Kettlebell Side-bends: 45 seconds