The Key to Healthy Faith: Spiritual Supplements

Let me just say…I love to workout!  Especially when I am in the habit of it and schedule it into my daily routine.  I feel more energetic, healthier and I notice that I actually have some semblance of muscles down deep in the recesses of my skin.  However, there is much pain and suffering for those first couple of weeks after taking a substantial amount of time off from my workout regimen.  I know, the key is…DON’T TAKE TIME OFF!  With working out comes nutrition.  With proper nutrition comes the supplement conundrum…what do I need?

I have a friend named John.  John owns his own supplement shop called Max Muscle.  John knows his stuff and is more than happy to answer all of my simple nutrition questions to more difficult ones that are more tailored to my specific situation.  He has a passion for nutrition, physical fitness, personal training and educating people in all of these areas.  John has taught me so much about nutrition and proper diet than he knows.  What is even more amazing is that he has educated thousands of people with the same passion he helped me.

In the same whey…er…way (sorry John), those followers of Jesus Christ should have the same passion like my friend has about sharing a healthy physical lifestyle with people in sharing their faith.  But in order to do that, we need some spiritual supplements.  The Apostle Peter tells us that God gives us everything we need when we accept Christ as our Savior.  Look at what Scripture says in 2 Peter 1:5-9

5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.  8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

Peter had just finished speaking about being saved by grace and the promises that God has given to us that would spur us on in our faith and dedication to Him.  Peter fully expects the people he is writing to grow in their faith.  Growth is a process.  Just like growth in the physical body can be painful, so can growth in faith.  Here, Peter begins to show the process of a growing faith.

He first gives us the “why” we should grow in faith.  It is clear that Peter believes that it should be done out of a response to God’s promises.  He gives a list of supplemental ingredients that will promote health growth in one’s faith.  Those supplements are:

• moral excellence
• knowledge
• self-control
• patient endurance
• godliness
• brotherly affection
• love for everyone

Peter goes on to give the reasons and results of both the positive and negative results of an individual’s decided actions.  The one who chooses to grow in faith becomes more productive and useful in their knowledge of the Lord while the one who fails to develop lack vision and forget that they have been freed from their old sin.

Just as the physical body needs nutrients for proper nutrition and health, the spiritual body needs supplements for proper growth and development.  When one comes to know Christ, He gives to them everything they need to live a godly life.  Part of an individual’s responsibility for spiritual fitness & development, like that of physical fitness & development, is to supplement their growth with proper nutrition, supplements & workouts.

When a person wants to workout their physical body, they go to the gym.  When they want nutrition, they eat.  When they want supplementation, they go to the vitamin shop.  In the same line of thinking, when a person wants to develop their spiritual man and build or work out their faith, they have to put it to action.  Putting feet to our faith involves more than witnessing to someone, it involves developing our faith throughout our body, soul and spirit.

To grow in our faith you need to develop the following:

• moral excellence – developed through habits of making decisions that are just, noble, brave, honorable, fruits of the spirit, etc.
• knowledge – growing in knowledge comes from learning what God has spoken to us through study of HIs Holy Word. Know what He says!
• self-control – develop the ability to control your actions, emotions, behaviors and desires.
• patient endurance – (This one is tough!)  develop your faithfulness.  Faithfulness requires time!  It requires commitment!  Even when you don’t want to and don’t think you can go any further…press on and keep going!  It is a long race you are taking part in, a marathon, keep putting one foot in front of the other.
• godliness – loving, fearing and honoring God.  Being devoted to God and putting that devotion into action (Hebrews 11)
• brotherly affection – love your brother and sisters in Christ.  Discriminate against none of them.  They are your family.  Defend, protect and serve them.
• love for everyone – when your faith is growing, you want everyone to experience what it is that you have found in Christ.  Love people as God loves people!

Just like being a couch potato is a bad decision for your physical man, one doesn’t want to become a spiritual couch potato.  When you fail to develop your faith and grow, your spiritual gifts retard and your Christlike habits are left under-developed.  When you don’t use the spiritual nutrients and spiritual supplements, you are not growing as God intended for you to grown in your faith.  Use everything that God has given to you since you have come to know Him.   Become the person that God has intended you to become!  Put your devotion to Him into action!

Distractions to Worship

I have been dealing with distractions in my life.  Whether they are through work, school, kids, ministry, deer season…it really doesn’t matter what the distraction is, there always seem to be something that can change my focus.  There are always “things” that will compete for our attention.  Some are urgent, some are trivial.  However, the urgent can become trivial and the trivial can become urgent.  I wanted to share with you what I am learning.  I am learning that there are distractions to our relationship with God.  They are nothing new.  I am reading in 1 Timothy and he addresses those distractions.

Scripture:

1 Timothy 2:8-9

8 In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.  9 And I want women to be modest in their appearance.They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes.

Timothy charges ALL churches, temples, synagogues with his opening phrase in verse 8.  He doesn’t exempt any house of worship or give special place to one place over another.  This instruction is for ALL places of worship.  It not only deals with the process of worship, but the attitude of worship as well.  Timothy addresses the problems of distractions when worshipping.  He instructs the men to lead the way in worship as they are addressed first.  He admonishes men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God.  Holy, meaning consecrated for worship and service.  Set apart for His worship.  He then goes on to add to the holiness about being free from anger and controversy.  These are things that can entangle the spirit of a man and cause attention to be misdirected from God to the controversy.

After addressing the men, the women are to follow their lead.  However, Timothy understands the nature of men and how they are distracted by the eye.  He admonishes women to dress modestly.  He instructs them to wear appropriate clothing as not to draw anyone’s attention to themselves by they way they fix their hair or the jewelry they wear or the price of their clothes.  He is making sure that they are not the focus of worship as was prevalent during this time.  Women can become distracted as well.  Insecurities creep in about appearance, feelings of inadequacy, and even competition with others.  This was evident back then as it is now.  It stems from goddess worship.  Goddess worship was something that was very real and was trying to make headway into the Church as there were many converts who were now following Christ and mixing the pagan religion with Christianity.  Timothy addresses this and points both men and women to the cross of Christ.  He is the one that is to be worshipped.

When I am confronted with this truth of the Word, I realize that my life is full of controversy and distractions. When my life is full of controversy, it usually breeds anger.  How can one worship God and have anger toward another in his heart?  I wrestle with this. Especially when I become passionate about something.  I begin to think, focus and really go overboard with “proving” my point in my personal need to become right.

In my trying to become right, I have a way that I can become like a rasp and score good people and my relationships with the file that I think will smooth the surface.  In reality, I am doing that opposite.  I am leaving scars on the lives of people I wanted to have friendships with, be close to, celebrate with and do life together.  I believe this is one aspect of what Timothy is speaking to in this verse.  Be free from controversy as to not have divided attention and your attention can be focused on God.

He then goes on to dealing with women.  I believe that this is a twofold meaning this writing.  Timothy knows and understands how men are wired.  They are visual.  Things that men see, stick in the DVR of their minds and can be recalled and played over and over again.  Here, the instruction to the women to not dress immodestly or expensively or with too much jewelry as to become a distraction to others.  This serves a double purpose.

1. It prevents people from being distracted in their worship before God.  This doesn’t just refer to men, but also women as well.
2. It also instructs women not to compete for attention of other people.  It teaches all people to have the attention of God rather than man.  It teaches us to not become distractions to others in their walk with Christ.

When we become a distraction to other people in their walk with Christ, we have elevated ourselves to demigod status and seek to have attention drawn to us rather than pointing it toward Christ.  This is sin!  This is idolatry!  This is pride!

I am thankful that God gives us grace and mercy!  Without His grace, there is no Good News of Christ dying for each of us.  Without His mercy, I am still held accountable for my past transgressions.  I am glad that I have placed my trust in Him and that He is still forming me into what He wants me to become.

Prayer:

Lord, forgive me of my sin of pride.  Take it from me.  Help me to point people to Your Son, Jesus.  Help me to tame my passions of this world and make me more passionate for You, Your Word, Your mission and Your Love.  Help me to not become a distraction and live a quiet, peaceable life that is pleasing to you.  I ask that you would help me and guide me by your Holy Spirit.  I ask that you would bless my family and give them favor.  Help my children grow closer to You and do well in their schooling.  I pray that you would bless my wife in her job and give her favor.  I ask that you would give me favor on my job and help me reach the goals that I have set.  I give you glory and honor.  Thank you for saving me.  Amen!

What are the “things” that are distracting you?

What are you competing for the attention of, God or someone else?

 

So Goes the Captain…so goes the crew!

 

Believe it or not…this is the transcript of an actual radio conversation between a US naval ship and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. The Radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on Oct. 10, 1995.

US Ship: Please divert your course 0.5 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.

CND reply: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

US Ship: This is the Captain of a US Navy Ship. I say again, divert your course.

CND reply: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course!

US Ship: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS CORAL SEA*, WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE US NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!!

CND reply: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Okay, so that is really an old Navy joke and never really happened.  However, it really is useful as we are starting a new school year here in Texas.  I began to think about this story as I had recently heard it and how to apply it to my life.  I have heard this story many times and wondered why it kept coming back up.  Well, I was in church yesterday and was challenged with a commitment to get into the Word of God on a daily basis.  The challenge was made to not just do it for yourself, but for your family.  As a Husband and a Father, it is my responsibility to be the Priest of my home.  I am responsible for setting the tone for my family, spiritually.  I have to admit, I have done well at this on the personal level.  But in all honesty, I have been very spotty to virtually non-existent in leading my family spiritually, well.  They deserve better.  So, with that moment of transparency and a ‘new’ school year starting, I am making efforts to captaining my family spiritually on the path we need to go.

When I don’t fulfill my role as Priest of my family, there are dangers that can arise that leads to dangerous outcomes.  So goes the captain, so goes the crew…Look at how 2 Chronicles 36:14-16 says it…

2 Chronicles 36:14-16

14 Likewise, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the pagan practices of the surrounding nations, desecrating the Temple of the Lord that had been consecrated in Jerusalem. 15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent his prophets to warn them, for he had compassion on his people and his Temple. 16 But the people mocked these messengers of God and despised their words. They scoffed at the prophets until the Lord’s anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done.

In this passage, we have the leaders of God’s temple and spiritual leadership becoming more unfaithful to the things of the Lord that they are supposed to be leading in.  Instead of doing the things of God that were prescribed in the Law, they began to turn to pagan religions that other surrounding nations followed.  The spiritual leaders desecrated the Temple that had been previously consecrated to the things of God.  The Lord loved his people and offered them prophets that would come to warn them of the path that they were going down.  He did this out of compassion for His people.  However, the people only mocked these messengers and hated the words that God sent to his people through them.  This resulted in the Lord becoming angry and His anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done.

As the spiritual leadership of a family, nation, team or church goes, so goes that family, nation, team or church.  When the spiritual leadership turns away from following the things set forth by God in His Holy Word, it sets into action a path that is not a desirable path.  While God loves his people, He also grieves when they turn from His ways.  This grief turns to anger and eventually God will turn those and its spiritual leadership over to their sinful, prideful ways.  Adoption of pagan spiritual practices that originate from people and leadership that do not follow the things of God, leads to a desecrated Temple.  Today, this is played out more frequently in the form of idolatry.  This idolatry is found in tolerance of pagan religions, relaxed morals, justifications for actions and so on.  These are just excuses for behaviors that are contrary to God’s Word.  This applies to you as an individual because you are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  You have been set apart by God for His service and His plan.  When you turn away from following Him and choose to follow those outside influences of other religions, then you are desecrating what God has set apart.  This turning away and following outside religions in today’s society is called “toleration”.  When you tolerate the practice of other religions, then you have compromised your belief system and ultimately desecrated the Temple of God.  What you tolerate spiritually today, becomes status quo tomorrow.  As followers of Christ we are called to stand out, not blend in.

What is your plan for leading your family spiritually?

What steps can you take personally to prepare to lead?

How can I help you lead?

1063 Degrees Farhenheit

I have been pleasantly surprised here in Texas this Summer.  We actually have had what I call a milder summer.  By this time of year, we are usually in a countdown to breaking the record of days over 100 degrees. However, this year, we are constantly in the 90s and even had a cold front come through that dropped us into the 80s.  It has been great!  However, the 100s are predicted to make a comeback tour in North Texas.

I love to watch the weather.  I love to see how people respond to weather in different parts of the country.  I saw just a few weeks ago how the Upper East Coast of the US were experiencing a heat wave…they had temps in the 90s!  We call that Summer down here in Texas and to be even more specific, we call that a cold front.  Now, don’t think I am just spouting off about how we can handle the heat.  On the other hand, when snow and ice come our way in the Winter, we shut down…yes, for 2 inches of snow/ice.  The entire area shuts down, schools are closed and if you want to see crazy drivers…come to North Texas in an ice storm.  I don’t even want to talk about how people can’t drive in the snow.

I started thinking about these weather changes and how the temperatures affect our lives.  Sometimes, we experience temperature changes in our lives that are more internal than that of the weather outside.  Sometimes, we can actually feel the “heat” being turned up in our lives.  It may be on the job, at home, with our spouse or children, neighbors, car troubles, etc.  You name it, life seems to have a way of turning it on when we don’t really need it or expect it.  Sometimes, we can even begin to crack under the heat that has been so unwelcome in our lives.  As I was thinking about this, I came across a passage of Scripture found in Proverbs 17:3,

Proverbs 17:3

3 Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the Lord tests the heart.

Precious metals, when refined, are put to the test of fire.  When those metals are heated up to a specific temperature, then impurities rise to the top of the liquified metal.  It is called dross.  The purity of silver and gold are measured by the amount of time on the refining fire and the amount of dross that is pulled out of the metal.  When testing the metal, the purity is determined by the amount of dross left in the metal.  Metal’s purity it tested by physical properties alone.  God tests humans by the heart test.  He searches and reveals impurities of the heart.  God unveils impurities or sin of the heart through His refining process.  He is more concerned with a person’s heart than their physical appearance.

Gold is refined at 1063 degrees Fahrenheit.  Purity of gold is determined by the refining process.  During the refining process, the refiner keeps a constant watch upon the fire and the gold that is being refined.  Like the refiner of gold, God refines our heart.  Sometimes the heat will be turned up in our lives and it is a process of God testing our hearts.  He is refining our lives.  He is keeping careful watch over what we can handle and won’t give us more than we can handle without providing a way for us to escape.  God wants our hearts to be pure before Him.  Just remember, when the heat is turned up and the impurities of your life are rising to the top, God is keeping a careful eye on you to remove those impurities so that you can be the priceless gold He designed you to be from the beginning.  He loves you!

What area of your life is the heat being turned up in now?

What impurities are you discovering about yourself?

How can you recognize the times of heat and know that they are God testing your heart?

Spiritual Trading Cards

It is a good thing to have things in common with your kids.  When I was a kid, I used to collect baseball cards. I would save up my money and ride my bike down to the corner store and buy as many packs as possible.  I will never forget the anticipation of paying for the cards and rushing outside and opening those packs, grabbing the concrete piece of bubble gum that was inside each pack and shoving it in my mouth to begin the cavity process.  4 out of 5 kids recommended Donruss bubble gum, but I was a Topps man!  I would then smell the cards…yes, I was a weird kid.  I loved the smell of the cards with the scent of the bubble gum.  I remember looking through the cards in search of my heroes.  It would only be a few days and I would have them ordered, alphabetized and put in my shoebox for proper storage.  I would then memorize the stats on the back of each card and do the math to check to make sure that Topps didn’t make any mistakes figuring out each player’s stats.  I was a stat junkie!

My son, Cole, has started collecting cards.  In fact, I don’t remember myself being this excited about cards.  However, he is searching Ebay and looking up values and if we ever get separated at the store, I can always go to the baseball card section to find him.  He has them all separated by team and in a binder with protective pages. He takes his cards and trades them with our neighbor’s kids and rushes home to ask me if I have ever heard of such and such a player.

Cole loves the history of the older cards and the players that are depicted on them.  He has a respect for the game and realizes that there are those who played baseball long before he was even born.  He asks why Jackie Robinson’s number is retired at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, TX, because he knows he never played for the Rangers. I love it!  His passion for those cards and collecting them take me back to a place when I loved being a kid.  The only thing I notice about today’s cards are that they don’t smell like bubblegum…what a tragedy!

I was reading in Romans and cam across a series of Scripture that reminded me of trading cards.  The passage is found in Romans 1:21-22 & 25.  This is what Paul wrote to the Romans…

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.22Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 

 

25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

When Paul was addressing the Romans, he spoke to them like the people had knowledge of God.  However, just knowing  about God doesn’t imply worship or facilitate the implementation of worship.  People have a will, that means they have a choice to worship God or not.  They would not even return thanks to God, much less worship Him.  They began to concoct their own interpretations of who God is and what He was like.  This takes place today.  Some may refer to God as a woman or say that God is in everything or God is who you want Him to be.  Some may even believe that all gods, Allah, Buddha, Hare Krishna, the various Hindu gods are all the same.  This is called polytheism.  As a result of these beliefs, people’s minds can become confused and darkened to the light of the Truth.  In their wisdom that they feel the gain from this wide spectrum of religions/gods, they instead become fools.  A fool is one who says in his heart that there is no god.

As a result of these actions, people traded the truth about God for a lie.  The Truth was in the form of Jesus Christ and the lie believed is the lie that there are many ways to heaven so worship whatever you think to be god.  Instead of worshipping the Creator, they worshipped creation.

The first commandment that God wrote on the tablets for Moses on Mt. Sinai was,

“Thou shall have no other gods before me.”

This is the most important commandment.  You must always put God first.  Many times you will be confronted with ‘possibilities’ that God is found in all and in everything.  However, don’t buy in to the lie that there are many ways to heaven.  There is one way, that is, through Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10).  Make sure that idolatry doesn’t creep in and focus is diverted to the attention of what man has created over the Creator himself.  Remember, confusion doesn’t come from God.  Worship God for who He is…first and foremost…the Creator.

What is that “thing” you are trading for your reverence to God?

How can one find comfort in the realization that there is ONE way to heaven, that is, through Jesus Christ?

What are the things, idols, that you are putting in front of God that competes for His rightful place in your life?

4 Ingredients of a Good Reputation

John Wooden, the great coach of the UCLA Bruins and greater man of character, would spend countless minutes in his practice sessions building his player’s character rather than working on basketball skills.  He would teach them and pour into the character of the individual by teaching his ‘pyramid of success’.  John Wooden felt that if he could build the man’s character, then basketball would take care of itself.  It worked…his teams won 10 National Championships in 12 years and in those 10 championships, they won 7 in a row.  He was the National Coach of the Year 6 times.

His teams always had a reputation for playing hard the entire game.  They had a reputation for winning.  Their reputation, or what others believed to be truth about them, was an outflow of the character traits that Coach Wooden spent countless hours instilling into their lives.  Coach Wooden said it best when he said,

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Character and reputation go hand in hand.  In fact, your reputation is forged by your character.  You can spend 20 years building your reputation and lose what you built with one misstep.  Now that may seem like a lot of pressure that one is putting on themselves to constantly live a life that lives up to their standards they have set for themselves.  I would argue that if you are the one that set your standard bar, then there is no pressure to live up to it.  I also believe that a person will try to achieve their expectations no matter how high they may set them.  In this day and age, I believe that the greatest tragedy and disservice that we can do for the younger generation is to allow their standards to be set too low.  Without lofty expectations, the results experienced are low.  It has been said that the greatest enemy of great is good.

As a parent, it is my responsibility to instill in my children the necessary character traits that will help them to succeed in life.  I don’t want them to have the necessary skills to ‘just get by’.  I want them to excel.  I want them to set their standards high.  I want to inspire them to greatness!  I want them to dream and have the character to reach for their dreams.  I also want them to have a good reputation.  Your reputation is important!  In fact, Luke the Physician wrote in the Acts of the Apostles concerning Timothy, in Acts 16:2-3,

2 Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium, 3 so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek.

This stemmed from his character that was handed down from his parents.  I believe that there are 4 ingredients of a Good Reputation.  This is what I hope to instill into my children and I want to share them with you today.

• Love– Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as your self.
• Truth– Always be truthful even and especially if you are wrong.  When you tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said that was a lie.
• Honor– Live a life that will honor God and make His name known.  Live a life that brings honor to God, your parents, grandparents, your family and your children.  You represent more than just yourself when you are alone or in a crowd, you represent all of the above.
• Serve– Dedicate your life to serving God and always listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Serve at places like your church, community, family, neighbors and friends.  Take the initiative and serve others when you see something that needs to be done, do it without being asked.

When these ingredients are thrown into the mix of a person’s life, your character will become the strong foundation that your reputation is built upon. With this recipe, I leave you with this statement and 3 questions.  Some people change jobs, mates and friends, but never think of changing themselves.

• What are the ingredients that you are putting into the character mix of your life?  Your Family?  Your Children?
• What are your goals and dreams as an individual?  A family?  
• Are you striving for great or settling for good?

Body Shop

Today I as I sit down to write, I am still thinking about yesterday.  I was the guest speaker at Whitehouse First Assembly in Whitehouse, TX.  My friends, Michael and Angie Fleming are the pastors there and have a great staff that works with them.  One thing I love about the church is that there are no strangers there.  The moment you walk in, its like you have just been gone for a while and made your way back even though it may be your first time to ever visit.  On Saturday, this church hosted a 5k and 1K fun run to raise money for a missions work they titled Hope for Haiti.  Now don’t get me wrong, this was just a part of the focus of the weekend.  You see, the pastor has been conducting a series of messages that he called Back to the Future.  The whole premise is based on what your future self would come back and tell your present self.

This particular weekend, they were focusing on “body ministry”.  This is a topic that you don’t normally hear about in church unless it deals with the entire church body as a whole.  However, Sunday was going to be a little different.  It was dealing with the individual’s personal body.  I have grown up in church and admit that I have never heard a message on the individual’s responsibility in taking care of their bodies.  This honors God! I want to share with you some thoughts on this topic today and give you a challenge.

Jesus, when asked about the greatest commandment, replied in Matthew 22:37 this way,

37Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’

In this passage, he gave 3 areas to love God with…heart (body), soul, and spirit (mind).  When I saw this, I asked, “How in the world do I love God with my body?”  I immediately began to think of sacrifices, diets, exercise, the silver sweatsuit…I wanted no part of those.  You see, I love donuts.  I have never met a donut I didn’t like!  Those donuts are also what helped me to get to an all time high weight of 420 pounds!  My body was not loving God!  I tried to use Scripture, being a pastor of a church, to justify my obesity.  In fact, I used 1 Timothy 4:7-9 as a justification, look what it says…

7Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. 8“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” 9This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it.

My rationale was found in verse 8 to get out of the discipline of training my body.  However, I quickly found myself flashing back to this image…

I wanted no part of this!!!  That was when I re-read Romans 12:1,

1And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Honoring God with my body was not a diet, exercise regimen or even wearing some crazy looking sauna suit.  It was a holy sacrifice of me GIVING my body to Him as an act of worship.  He finds that acceptable.  Now the part of me finding that acceptable was the issue.  I had to come to grips with making time to offer my body to God.  I had to make a change.  I weighed 420 pounds and was miserable.  Through a variety of measures, I was able to lose over 200 pounds.  Check out my before and after photo…

I began to think, I am putting up a wooden fence at my house, about to paint my house, have put new flooring in my house and spent all kinds of money on my house yet not done one thing for my body.  I had neglected my body for too long.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says this,

19Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

That is when I realized, I have spent more on my earthly home, than the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  God bought me with a price…His Son!  I have no other choice than to honor Him with my body.  What good am I to God on this earth if I am dead?  NONE!  My thinking then changed, If I try to make my home have the best appearance it possibly can, why should I do anything less for God’s temple?

As I shared this at Whitehouse First Assembly yesterday, the Pastor and I asked them to make physical fitness commitments.  His goal was for his church to get healthy and corporately commit to lose 1000 pounds in the next 6 months.  They took pledge cards and collected them…the final tally…2345 pounds total as a goal to make their bodies a living sacrifice which is holy and acceptable to God.

WOW!!!  That is over 1 ton of weight they want to lose as a church!

My question for you…

Will you begin today to make your body the best temple that it can possibly be for God?

Will you commit for the next 6 months to a healthy lifestyle and take off some unwanted weight?

Will you honor God with your body since He bought you with a price?

5 Things God Requires of You

I am a big believer in planning. I utilize ‘to do’ lists throughout my month, week and day. One of my mottos that I have adopted, I heard at a John Maxwell Leadership conference. It simply says,

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

 

Since then, I have become more determined to live a more planned out life with plenty of wiggle room for those things that seem to spring on me without any notice. You know…life. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t PLAN to “interact with kids” or “dinner with my wife”…those things take precedent over any and everything on my schedule. Appointments get bumped, moved or cancelled when it comes to my family. If I am in a meeting and my wife calls, the meeting is on hold. Why? Because I also tend to be a worrier. I immediately start playing out worst case scenarios. It is just how I am wired. I am a problem solver. That can be good or bad.

I came across a passage of Scripture that gave the Children of Israel a “checklist” of what God expected from them. Now, before you start thinking, “That was the Old Testament, we live under the New Testament.” These truths given to the Israelites were reinforced all throughout the New Testament. So…get rid of your excuses… Look at what Deuteronomy 10:12-13 says,

Scripture:

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

12“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul.13And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.

Observations:

Here the Lord lists what He expects from His people.

• Fear the Lord
• Live to please Him
• Love Him
• Serve Him with your whole heart
• Obey His commands

Why does he require this from His people? It is for their own good.

Application:

If I want my best interests to be at the forefront of God’s mind, then I need to live to fulfill what He wants as my Lord and Savior. Living these 5 things out leads to a life of righteousness and ultimately reveals our devotion to God.

Make no mistake about it, living out these 5 things is much more than a checklist that you can go down and mark as completed. God wants to be more than a ‘to do’ list, He wants a relationship with YOU! In fact, these things won’t be completed until we are with Him in heaven. Checklists make my day simpler…God makes it simple for His people. Accept His grace and mercy and continue to live a righteous life in His sight.

How are you focusing on the 5 Things?
Are you living a “checklist” with God or a relationship?

 

Prayer:

God, I thank you for your love, your mercy and your grace. I pray that you would bless my work today and help me reach my goals. I pray that you would help me to be a light in a dark world. Bless my family and keep them safe throughout their day. All these things I ask according to Your Word and Your Will. Amen!

Seek the Seeds

I love American History!  This love of American History came from the passion that my 7th grade American History teacher possessed and infused in my life at Greenacres Junior High School in Bossier City, LA.  Mrs. Ray, had an unusual teaching style that ignited the passion of remembering otherwise tedious dates in history and actually making me want to know those dates and be able to put them on my tests correctly.  The last thing I wanted to do was disappoint her by forgetting or not knowing.  Mrs. Ray taught me ways to memorize all of our President’s in order by using the “Who Are Jolly Mighty Men…” memorization technique.  The first letter in every word was the first letter of the President’s last name.  Thank You…I did make a 100% on that test…thank you!  She had a remarkable style of presentation of history.  One time, she climbed her stool and with one foot atop her desk and the other on the stool, re-enacted George Washington crossing the Delaware River.  I can remember thinking, “She is crazy…she is fun…I like history…this is cool!” She always had a smile that lit up the room!  See for yourself…

I can remember that same passion when she covered the different wars, the different legislation, the things that make this country what it is today.  She is one of my favorite teachers to this very day!  Why?  Because I find myself teaching my kids some of the same things she taught me.  I can see her passion light up my kid’s eyes when I talk about the things she taught me.  They don’t even know her!  But they do know her passion for American History.

Like Mrs. Ray, Solomon was one of the wisest men in history and had a passion for passing down his wisdom to the next generation.  In fact, he wrote the Proverbs for his son to pass down the wisdom God had given him.  One of the Proverbs that he penned reminded me of Mrs. Ray’s history class.  It is found in Proverbs 8:10-11 and it reads,

Choose my instruction rather than silver and knowledge rather than pure gold.  For wisdom is more valuable than rubies.  Nothing you desire can compare with it.

Instruction, knowledge and wisdom are directly compared as more valuable than what the free market deems as valuable.  Silver, gold and rubies are monetarily valuable and typically signify great wealth.  However, Solomon says that nothing compares to having attributes in one’s character that can be passed down from generation to generation versus something that is as fleeting as wealth.

In today’s society, people have bought into the false belief that their value is attached to their pay stub.  God says that true value lies in one’s character and knowledge.  Those building blocks are what produces the monetary value that will enable you to take care of your financial obligations. In today’s world, people want the easy way out and to only have the fruit minus the labor.  All they want is the fruit…not the hassle.   It seems as though people have forgotten to seek those things that will continue to produce fruit rather than the fruit itself.  We need to seek the seeds that will produce for a lifetime. Seek the way to get fruit for a lifetime and even for your kid’s lifetime.  Long term planning should be further out than your nose is long.

The old adage lies true today…

In what ways are you seeking knowledge, instruction and wisdom?

Do you have someone who has invested in you and planted seeds that are still producing today?  If so, thank them.  Write them a letter, give them a phone call, let them know of the deposit they have put into your life.

Challenge:  Ask someone close to you to describe your character to you…evaluate their thoughts and make additions or subtractions.

Shake it Off!

Sometimes when I think back on my illustrious career in sports…all the way through High School…I can recall many games, situations, wins, losses and things my coaches or parents would say to me.  I had a flood of memories come rushing back in this weekend when my daughter asked me how old I was when I broke my first bone.  Amazingly, I have never broken a bone in my body!  (Knock on wood).  I can remember getting hurt or injured.  I remember one of my best friends hitting me during a drill at football practice at an odd angle and separating my shoulder.  I can remember being in a baseball game and being drilled in the back by a fastball that had to be coming at the speed of light or 55 mph…I have heard it both ways.  In both instances, the words came from my coaches and parents in the stands that I will never forget…SHAKE IT OFF!  Sure, that was easy for them to say…it wasn’t their arm dangling by a ligament or a nice welt and throbbing pain that I was also told “don’t rub it” as I struggled for breath as I gingerly walked to first base as a ‘reward’ for ‘taking one for the team.’

 

There are times when these words have rang true, but in a very different sense.  In life, there have been times when I have had those words come back into my memory at just the right time.  Situations arise, things happen and things that may sting for the moment or cause discomfort can be experienced.  Many times, I have had to shake it off and go on.  I had to get past it and look to the future task at hand just like heading to first or getting back up when knocked down.  Luke 9:5 reads this way,

And if a town refuses to welcome you, shake its dust from your feet as you leave to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.

Jesus was speaking to his disciples.  He was letting them know that they would be rejected.  Maybe for their message, maybe for who they were.  However, Jesus tells them not to worry about it.  He in reality says, Shake It Off, let those people deal with the consequences of their choices.  What is interesting is that in this passage, Jesus is referencing and entire town.  A WHOLE COMMUNITY of people!  To me, this reference infers a group of people uniting in opposition to your message or work ethic…to the point of wanting you gone!

This can be a crushing blow to a person.  Acceptance is one thing all humans crave.  When someone doesn’t accept you, it hurts you emotionally, mentally and physically.  Not everyone is going to accept you or what you stand for but that doesn’t mean you compromise what you believe.  STAND!  Shake it off!  If there is one thing I have learned, it is this.

It is better to be rejected by man for your beliefs than to be rejected by God for your unbelief.

Shake it off!

What are some things that have been ‘getting to you’ that you need to shake off?

In what areas of your life do you need to have faith in God?