If you’ve been to Youtube you’ve seen an ad about how to get ripped, or lose weight recently.
Let’s talk about health for a minute. We would all like to lose weight, get in shape, blah blah blah. A lot of people starve themselves and work out. That’s not healthy. Let’s set a few basic common sense principles.
A healthy person
1) gets enough sleep
2) eats a variety of foods, particularly fruits and vegetables
3) does aerobic exercise
4) drinks water
So, if you’re trying to get healthy, do it in little steps. You could try to go to bed 15 minutes earlier every night. After a month of succeeding at this, try drinking a cup more of water than you usually would. Go for a walk, or get a little exercise. The key is small manageable changes. You don’t have to be built like Thor, or have Black Widow’s body. If you are serious about getting healthier, do it slowly, methodically. You can go to a gym, but do your research first. Not on Youtube or at the GMC or Five Star Nutrition. Go see a nutritionist, if possible. Talk to someone who is healthy, active, in good shape, and not necessarily the Adonis worshipper you see lifting weights. He may be muscled, but he may be eating poorly, sleeping badly, or dehydrated.
If you’re a muscled, good looking, thin person, good, you’re doing good. But how’s your mind? How’s your soul? Are you striving to learn new things? Read more books (kindle even)? Spending 15 minutes a day reading the bible or praying? I’m not trying to pick on people that are attractive. I am saying, however, that God made every different variation of person imaginable, and to idolize another’s body is wrong. Because what it says to God is, ”You didn’t make me right,” or “I don’t have enough,” It’s prideful, covetous, and it will make you unhappy, fast.
Do you not read Romans 2? Why did people at first rebel against God? Because they were not grateful for what they had, and they didn’t glorify God as God. Make a gratitude list. Make the same one every day if you have to. When you go to bed at night, thank God for 5 things. Gratitude is commanded in the bible repeatedly. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,” “Give thanks to the God of gods,” “And remember to be thankful,”
Gratitude will prevent you from starting a whole list of other sins. And acknowledge God for who He is. “God, you’re God, and I’m not,” “You are so good, God. Thank you for always providing for me,” “Thank you God, for healing/delivering me from <something bad>,” God, as a word, literally means, ”The Good One,”
Now, having said all that, I will tell you I struggle with body image. A lot of guys do. And I struggle with gratitude towards God and trying to control and plot my way around or through things. But this is a message I needed, too. We can’t get there by being good enough, or trying harder, or learning. Only Christ is good enough to cancel our sin debt. And the rest we owe him? Everything, a love debt of gratitude given to Him, and a debt to love one another. Not to obey the law, but to show real thanksgiving to the One who gave us everything, and doesn’t owe us anything.
Father, Your Kingdom come, and Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.