Ahhhhhhhhh...........Seems I'm not the only one feeling a certain way about these temples the Lord gave us. Some of my brethren over at HCR have started a "Biggest Loser" competition to begin in January. January 1st to be exact. The great day of resolution for the world. I intend to participate in this contest, of course, especially based on my last blog post. I mean, I've been searching for proper motivation to get up and do something active. It sort of smacked me in my face as I was reading on the message boards, and really I have no reason not to do it. My question is, should a contest be the reason I do what I am now being compelled to do anyway? I would say yes in my case, and maybe no in others. Let's face it, someone having a contest to see who can read the most Scripture in a 6-month period would be futile. There should be an inner motivation towards that exercise by virtue of the Holy Spirit within us. So I'm not advocating "motivation by contest" willy nilly. However, for some of us, it's been our deep look into the mirror of Scripture that has prompted us to want to be better stewards of what God has given us. In this case, it's our bodies. Clearly, Scripture tells us that we have been bought with a price, and that our bodies are not our own (I Corinthians 6:19,20). Such being the case, we should seek to glorify God with our bodies, Paul goes on to say. Now I realize that the context of that passage was sexual purity. In no way would I strip this verse from its original context to suit my need to lose weight here. However, I don't think it a stretch to say that the bottom lines are two. 1. God created us, and gave us these bodies, and 2. If we are believers, He caused His Holy Spirit to dwell in these bodies. Meditation on these two facts have caused a desire to take better care of what God has given me on a number of fronts. Physically, I was motivated as of yesterday; this motivation led me to pray that the Lord in His grace would help me along in what's easy for my mind/spirit, but hard for my flesh. Voila! I'm reading one of my favorite sites and there is the post by my Brother. The burst of mass that happened to me over the last few years had also befallen him!!!! I was not alone in the outcome of overrelaxing and apathy towards my weight. As the post gathered readers, he and I knew WE were not alone. Now there's a group of us that want to do something about it, but realize the support of the brethren is vital. Hence, HCR's Biggest Loser contest. See, the Bible says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts. Not that He will give us what we want, but that He will by His Spirit INFORM us of what we want. Cyclical prayer is what I call it. A. We seek God through His Word and Prayer (John 15:7, Psalm 119:105, Phil. 4:6 among others) B. Our time in the Word shapes our worldview and perspectives (Romans 12:2, Psalm 119:9, etc) C. God in His grace draws closer to us as we are drawn to Him through relationship (James 4:8, Psalm 145:18, etc) D. Our affections are changed to reflect more of Him through that relationship (again, Rom. 12:2, Ezekiel 36:26 and more) E. We pray according to those changed affections and WOOP WHAM!!! F. God answers the prayer that He Himself motivated and shaped within you. (Psalm 37:4, Psalm 21:2, Psalm 145:19, etc) I say all that to say that as I searched the Scriptures, I found within myself one more of many shortcomings. Namely, the lack of proper stewardship over the body that the Lord blessed me with. The temple in which He has made His Holy Spirit to dwell in. The body that does not belong to me, for I am bought with a price. My mind changed from, "why does it matter, it's APPOINTED every man to die anyway," to "Lord I want to please you in the way I take care of the things you give me. I don't want to take your selfless sacrifice for granted. I don't want to treat your gifts like they don't mean anything." As my mind changed, I realized that I didn't know how I could motivate myself to exercise, or change my diet or anything. Then along comes my brother Teddy P with the answer. To that I say, Thank you Lord. Soooooooooooooooo, in this case, a contest motivating me to exercise is actually an answer to prayer. I'll let you know how I do come January. Pray for me.
Grace and Peace
2 comments:
yeaaah. it's funny.. the HCR competition was kinda like confirmation to me too. I actually got REAL convicted when a few brothers on HCR started the threads about how loved ones had either died or were going to die because of diabetes. My father has diabetes, my grandfather had it as well.. i should NOT be the 300+ that i am.
I realized that i'm putting myself at EXTREME risk and decided i wanted to do something about it and then THIS happens. I saw it as God straight up telling me "no more excuses". looking forward to this.
Agreed bro. I realize from my past efforts at consistency in the gym, that this will be a super challenge. It is imperative, though, that I go down in weight and not up lol. I have to try to manage my expectations too. Maybe 3X weekly at the gym? That sounds like a good start.
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