I heard my pastor say on different occasions how Christians in America tend to view the scriptures. In general, we go about our walk as if we were choosing from a food bar. We pick and choose according to our desires and personal interests. It’s like going to a restaurant. We’ll pick our likes and leave behind the rest. If one restaurant isn’t up to our “standards” then we’ll stop going there and go to another one instead. It’s much the same way in God’s Word. If we don’t particularly like something, then we tend not to meditate on it, pray about it or obey it. If we don’t like the church or pastors, we pack up and go to attend another church. (After all church is normally just an hour or two a week, almost the same as a dinner out. What’s wrong with that picture?)
So if we don’t like it when we are told that God is holy and one day we will stand in front of Him, then we’ll only choose to know verses that keep us fat on God’s love. We will never get healthy on verses that teach us His righteousness. We don’t choose from the things that make us stronger but rather we continue to choose from the same things that keep us weak. But God gave us the entire Word and we aren’t supposed to pick and choose just what we like. We need to be fortified by choosing from all of His riches and that means even including items we don’t particularly like.
Here’s my dislike in the natural: exercise. This week I cannot ignore it... Up until now, each respective topic that Joyce has presented I’ve been able to make peace with and practice. The thought of exercise occasionally came to my mind in the past few months but my attitude normally dismissed it quickly with “I’ll think about it later. I’m not ready now.”
Ready or not… it’s time to make peace and just do it! So my verse of activation is this from Philippians 3:13-14:
· Forgetting what lies behind (that means all my lazy, "don’t have time for this" self-talk has to be forgotten.)
· and straining forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal (that means I must make and keep daily goals for exercise and do my best to check them off by the time I’m ready for bed each night.)
· for the prize of the heavenly call (I know that God is calling me out of bondage from myself. My physical chains and my mental blinders have robbed me of His call. I will listen.)
· (heavenly call) of God in Christ Jesus. (Jesus paid the ultimate price to redeem me and it needs to be more than duty that I obey His Word to me. He says, “I gave my life for you. What have you done for me?” With His help I will make changes so that I can physically do more for Him. Amen.)
Again, at the end or her chapter, Joyce gives us five tips to get started. We can choose what best suits our life style but the fact it that we must choose something. Here suggestions are these: a daily walk; indoor exercise, strength training, running or biking, and/or swimming. We all can probably think of others ways to exercise… heavy duty cleaning and gardening are the two I think about. The only trouble with these is that they are pretty much seasonal and I need consistency.
In my research, I find that the best exercise is to alternate something aerobic on one day and strength training the next. It is best to start slow (even 5 minutes is better than none) and work up to more time in the process. In the old days it was suggested to exercise just three days a week. Well, new research says everyday. I’ve made a decision that I am going to alternate days and also devote one day to biblical rest. Here’s my schedule. (Sorry if it bores you, but I’m more likely to do it, if I put it in print here first.)
- Sunday ~ aerobic walking
- Monday ~ strength training~ upper body
- Tuesday ~ aerobic walking
- Wednesday ~ strength training~ lower body
- Thursday~ aerobic walking
- Friday ~ strength training~ entire body
- Saturday ~ rest, read, reflect ~ blog
Let’s continue to get healthy for there is much to be done for His glory.
Let us shine for Him!
1 comment:
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