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Motivations & Lies

10/28/2013

"Ascribe to The Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to The Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to The Lord the glory due his name; worship The Lord in the splendor of his holiness." Psalm 29:1-2

Why do we take care of our bodies? Why have we been advocating training our bodies to be physically healthy? Why have we been encouraging healthier eating habits? If the answer still is not obvious, let me say it again: We take care of our physical bodies to bring (or ascribe) God glory!

You may think this should be obvious to believers, but there are some traps that people fall into, and we're going to address some of those traps this week. I want you to be prepared as you continue to pursue godliness through Christ.

1 Peter 5:8 tells us to "be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Our enemy delights in taking things that God has said are good and twisting them, perverting them, and ensnaring people to believe something else (think about his talk with Eve in the garden at the beginning of Genesis 3)!

From society we see the perversion that the goal of healthy eating and exercising is to be sexually appealing. Yes, sex sells, so it's no surprise when most ads out there depict men half dressed with their 6-packs on display or women scantily clad baring all but their most private areas. Inherent in these ads are the lies that this is what you and I should truly look like, that we are only desirable and valuable to others and society like this. The truth is that our worth and value has already been defined by Christ: you are valuable and desirable. Before you were born, Christ knew you and left His home where He was worshipped constantly for who He is. He came to this world, where He was mocked, beaten, spat on and killed because of who He said He was, so that He could pay for your sins and make you His own. Yes, you are valued and loved as you.

Let's look at the opposite extreme: God loves me and has saved me, so I don't have to do anything. I can eat whatever I want and be as lazy as I want - God will still love me, He has to. Although it is true that if you have placed your life and faith in Christ that God will love you and accept you no matter what, can we consider for a moment what it means to believe and be God's child? When you believe and confess, "Jesus is Lord" (Ro. 10:9), what are you saying you believe and are confessing? What is a Lord? A Lord is a master, king or ruler. It means you listen to and obey your master. What He says is law! Consider all the Scriptures we've looked at over the weeks! Think about 1 Corinthians 6:12, "'Everything is permissible for me' - but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible for me' - but I will not be mastered by anything." Just because you can continue sinning doesn't mean you should! If you do, the question remains, is Christ really your Lord? (Also read Romans 5:20-6:23).

One last lie to touch on is the thought that I have to take care of others and taking care of myself is selfish. Yes, this lie is prevalent! The truth is that God has called you to take care of those in need around you (for many of us, we need to open our eyes and look around us and serve others more whole-heartedly) as well as yourself. Your body is God's home here on earth (1 Cor. 6:19) and should be taken care of as such. Just as you work to take care of your home, to be organized and fairly picked up and clean, take care of the body God has given you because it is His home too.

The devil is cunning and he knows your weaknesses, but what does God say about your weaknesses? "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:9-10). Friends, let's not pretend we don't have weaknesses. Instead, confess these weaknesses to Christ and to each other - turn to Him because His strength to defeat these lies will amaze you and encourage others.

Gracious Father, I praise You for being perfect and for promising to make Your power and strength known through my weaknesses. Help me to believe Your promises and that Your opinion of me and how I look is the only opinion that matters.

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Food that Satisfies

10/21/2013

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"A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment." Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

Commitment, Planning & Self-Discipline. These are keys to training - training ourselves physically, spiritually, even mentally! Last week we focused on training ourselves physically. This week, let's consider Scripture and what, when, why and how we eat.

First, I want to reiterate Romans 8:1 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." We can train ourselves for godliness and health because we have been set free. Our identity, value and worth are not found in doing or being good, but are found in Jesus' work, which has set us free from sin and death. We are not defined by our choices, but we are defined by Christ - forgiven, redeemed, and righteous because He has given us His righteousness.

Why do you and I eat? God made food so our bodies would be sustained or nourished (1 Cor 6:13). We are to eat so that our bodies can physically accomplish the work to which He has called us. That means choosing foods that are going to provide our bodies with long-term energy. Now, as much as I love coffee, caffeine should not be the fuel my body relies on. Fruits, vegetables, proteins, and foods rich in vitamins, minerals and nutrients are best for my body because those all readily provide the body with what is needed to work. Considering the work God has given me, I am not doing a great deal of physical, manual labor - I am chasing toddlers, reading to them, planning schedules, activities, menus, and managing our household cleaning and budgeting (Lord, please help my family!). Highly processed foods that have been stripped of nutrients and pumped full of preservatives that I cannot pronounce are not the best choices. They do provide some energy for my body, but not even close to the same level as foods found closer to their natural state. If you and I are eating to sustain our bodies rather than just to eat, let's think about what foods we can feed ourselves that will truly benefit us! (And I am not advocating certain dietary lifestyles only - if you have food allergies, stay away from those allergens! But not everybody needs to be a vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, organic only, raw, or any other dietary choice in order to truly take care of their body. God has given each of us a brain to learn, discern and exercise wisdom - so exercise wisdom for yourself and anyone else you are responsible for!)

Look at our verses above, Ecclesiastes 2:24-25. Food is to be enjoyed! It is a gift from God meant for your benefit and nourishment, so enjoy the good food that you and/or your family has worked hard for!

Take a few minutes and look up John 6:25-59. Jesus declares that He is the bread of life sent down by His Father in heaven. Whoever trusts in Him will never hunger again but will have life abundantly. Ok, let's be honest, this text plainly read can be confusing, and obviously confused the Jewish leaders. In verse 52 they debate amongst themselves: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Is Jesus promoting some sort of cannibalism?! No!

"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Psalm 42:1-2). Our souls hunger and thirst for something more than we can find on this earth - God has put a hunger in our hearts that only He can satisfy. I think "hunger" and "thirst" are such appropriate terms because I know I typically turn to ice cream & anything chocolate in times when my heart is heavy with worry, concern, anxiety, or depression. My soul is hungry, and food cannot truly satisfy that hunger. The sweetness of the ice cream satisfies my soul for a few brief moments, but that hunger always comes back. It is God alone who satisfies that hunger completely. This is part of training ourselves for godliness - saying no to satisfying that hunger with earthly things (food, alcohol, games, people, sex) and turning to God and believing His promise that He makes through Jesus in John 6. He will satisfy me completely - I can take Him at His word. This satisfaction is not food's job - asking food to fulfill this role will damage your view of food and hurt the good that food is supposed to bring you. Let Christ alone satisfy you.

Father, Thank You for creating food, for making it good and making it good for me. Forgive me for abusing food and making it my satisfaction instead of You. Please help me make better choices when eating. Thank You for promising to satisfy me completely. Help me believe Your promise. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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Physical Training

10/14/2013

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Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
1 Corinthians 9: 24-27

Paul and other New Testament writers often refer to racing and physical competitions. The people of the time were all about physical competitions, especially running and the gladiators! Paul states that those who compete to win spend a great deal of energy training. This is not a haphazard, half-hearted training - it is a full-on pushing themselves every day to be the best. Paul says this same attitude of training should be seen in each of us - training our bodies, minds, and everything to trust fully in Christ and make ourselves submit to God's rule, not sin.

We can take so many lessons from this, but there are two I want to focus on: we are to train ourselves to not sin, and there are benefits to training our bodies. These actually go hand in hand.

Laziness, seeking our own comfort, ease, convenience, etc. over taking care of our bodies is sin. Our bodies are one of God's gifts to us, and as believer's, our bodies are God's dwelling places. Because of the overall effect of sin on all of life, our bodies begin decaying the moment we are born. Training ourselves not to sin includes how we use our time and bodies. Hebrews 12:12 says, "Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees." This is following the writer's admonition to embrace discipline from God because "it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it" (Heb. 12:11). Again, that idea of training ourselves! The passage is alluding to training yourself Spiritually, but the imagery brought to mind is that of physical training! Could physically training our bodies be one way God helps us learn to be self-disciplined to train ourselves against sin...

Training our body physically takes specific things from you: commitment, planning and self-discipline. Training against sin and growing in godliness requires those same things. Train your body - for health and godliness. With health, you will have more time for godly work and godly training. As you train yourself for godliness, you will probably be convicted over your unhealthy choices (which may be sin) and I pray the Holy Spirit would encourage you to train yourself for health!

Practically, what do these 3 things look like in the area of being healthy physically?

Commitment: Decide today whom or what you are going to serve - your own sinful desires for ease and convenience or The Lord and training in godliness and health. Are you committed to adding some physical activity to your daily routine?
Planning: From personal experience, without a plan, any form of training is ridiculously difficult. Just like you should plan when, where and what you are studying and praying about to grow spiritually, plan when, where and what you will do for physical training. There is no cookie-cutter work-out formula that will work for everybody.
Self-Discipline: Plan according to your own personality and needs so that you can and will stick with it. I used to try to motivate myself to exercise. I bought a great set of exercise DVD's which I would do....occasionally. Even though I enjoyed them, it was not a good fit for me! I learned that I am not naturally a self-starter and needed help. I also enjoyed running, and so began looking for someone to run with - this provided mutual motivation and accountability. Pray and ask God for help finding an accountability partner. Exercise self-discipline as you train your body for health. If you fail one day, there is grace. Get back to it the next day!

Finally, training yourself for godliness and health should never be for your benefit alone. You are benefitted by both, but that is not the goal. Remember, our goal is to glorify God in every moment of our existence as His adopted children. Make that your goal, to glorify Him spiritually and physically, and legalism cannot rule or own you. If training yourself becomes a source of you being accepted before God, then you have missed the point of Christ's work. You are not your own, you were bought for a price. Now, all that you are and will be belong to God, so glorify Him and Him alone in everything, because He alone is good and worthy of ALL worship and praise.

Gracious God, I praise You because You are always good and You said that what You created is good. Thank You for the body You gave me. Please help me take care of my body so that You will be honored and glorified in all that I do. Help me train against sinfulness. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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Caring for the Body

10/7/2013

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"Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:31

Book store shelves are filled with diet plans, workout plans and cookbooks of "healthy" recipes. Looking through those options is overwhelming to say the least! And then some are "biblical" because they contain a bible verse on each page or claim to completely return to Christ's diet, or the diets of the Old Testament. I'm sure that each has and can be beneficial, but what are we supposed to use and follow?

Here I want to remind us all that we are free in Christ to weigh through (yes, pun intended!) and choose what option seems possible and applicable for each of us. The Bible does NOT say there is only one way to eat or exercise! Instead, there are certain truths or principals that are central for helping you and I decide what is beneficial and will help us take responsibility for our bodies.

First, you and I are made in God's image, body and all (Genesis 1:26-27)! Everything we do with our body is an opportunity to reflect God to the world around us. When we pig out, choose to watch TV over going for a walk for the 7th night in a row in a week, or feel defeated because of our weight or shape, what are we reflecting? Are we reflecting a good and gracious God who cares for ALL of His creation? AND as a believer, remember, your body is not just your own - it was bought with Christ's blood (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)!

Second, You and I are called to be stewards of the body God has gifted us with. Take a few minutes and read Psalm 139. He knit that body of yours together! This was not just for His pleasure and enjoyment, but that body He gave you is the first gift He gave you in your life! We know that He is the giver of every good and perfect gift - your body was not a mistake. In fact, "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures" (James 1:17-18).

Third, we are called to care for others AND ourselves. Oftentimes, people feel guilty or selfish for spending money on better food choices. Pastors and others in ministry can feel guilty for spending an hour at the gym rather than visiting the sick in the hospitals or working to share the gospel with those who do not know Jesus' goodness and gracious forgiveness. Yes, we are to care for the well-fare of others, for those who have no food or shelter - our hearts should be breaking right now for them! However, if you neglect to care for the body God has given you, how long will you be able to care for others? If you take care of your body, exercise regularly and feed yourself wisely, chances are your body will be available for many more years to care for the needs of others.

Lastly, and this is the culmination of everything above, the GOAL is to honor and glorify God! Good health, strong muscles and more energy are enjoyable and beneficial outcomes of exercising and making healthy food choices, but those should not be our goal. Read the verse above, 1 Corinthians 10:31. There is no goal greater than to bring God glory and honor with what He has given each of us!!!

Perfect Father, I praise You because You make no mistakes. You created me to have the body I have, and it is one of Your gifts to me. Please guide and direct me to discern how best to take care of my body. Help me fight discouragement and guilt that might keep me from glorifying You. And Lord, help me keep glorifying You as my main goal. In Jesus' Name, Amen..

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