Of Great Worth

I have recently been thinking a lot about our culture and how much of a preoccupation we have with external appearance and fitting into a very specific set of expectations without much room for deviation. Seeing the far reaching downward spiral of this pushed mentality is eye-opening and disturbing because it reaches into our inmost being and attacks the very core of who God has called us to be. With images of naked beauties covering the pages of nearly every magazine on the shelves lining the checkout counter, or pictures condemning the hint of cellulite, wrinkles, or gray hair, it is nearly impossible to escape this endless barrage of lies that are constantly thrown our way.

One of the side effects for this type of unending imagery is our inability to know what true beauty looks like. We are always seeing the “fantasy” or the “lie” presented as truth, but instead of recognizing these things for what they are, we turn around and question the reality; “Should my body look this way?” “Should my hair be turning this color?” “Should my face be changing like this?” The distortion of our beliefs has led to unhealthy remedies to counter the lies, while nursing the pains caused so deep within. We turn to things of this world for healing, whether it is food, pornography, sexual encounters, fantasy, rigid control, etc, and all end with us continuing to walk the downward spiral of disintegration until we are left in a heap on the floor, feeling hopeless and damned. C.S. Lewis wrote it masterfully in “The Screwtape Letters” when he wrote:

“Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s (God’s) ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula. It is more certain; and it’s better style. To get the man’s soul and give him nothing in return- that is what really gladdens our Father’s (Satan’s) heart.” [Lewis, C.S., “The Screwtape Letters,” IX]

We are having our joy stolen from us because of a twisted and evil enemy that wishes for us to remain pitted in the depths of our despair. He does not want us to experience freedom. He does not want us to experience the feeling of being loved and valued. Satan wants us to believe the lies that he has warped into the mind of the media. And he wants us to stay there and never get up.

But, our God is a redeeming God. He will not leave us in the valleys, but always continues to push us forward to the relief of the mountaintops to see the beautiful view. He counters the lies of the enemy with Truth and the truth shall set you free! Our God shouts our value to Him from the Heavens, spreading His message throughout His Word; “All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you,” (Song of Solomon 4:7). He pours Himself into our hearts and into our lives that we “…being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (emph. mine),” (Ephesians 3:18-19). Only when we really cleave to this Truth, lining up all thoughts and actions to this core belief, will we be in a position to experience Godly victory over the Enemy’s ploys. We are to be “rooted and established in love,” not questioning and doubtful of God’s eternal love for us and extreme value for each of us. We are to “be filled” with this love and, therefore, experience “all the fullness of God!” When we are full of God, we cease the endless search for being defined by anything else. Our world wants to put a label on each of us, as fat, thin, pretty, ugly, smart, stupid, etc, all based on the values that have been set by an evil being of the underworld. In all truth, these do not hold up to the scrutiny of God, as He searches the heart to determine where we are with Him. Our true beauty comes from within, as the “unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight,” (1 Peter 3:4). The buck stops with God, and it is only in Him that we can get an accurate understanding of who we are, for what we were created, and what we are called to do. If the foundation of our being, our self-identity, is not founded and centered upon His Word, we are like the “foolish man who built his house on sand,” (Matthew 7:26). You are beautiful. You are wonderfully made. You are lovely and valuable. You are of great worth! You are deserving of love. You are a child of God, co-heir with Christ, and, therefore, considered royalty.

So, what does this mean for our lives? Well, if we are worth more than rubies, and loved beyond measure, than our treatment of ourselves, whether in thought or deed, must reflect that high position of value! We are not our own; we were bought at a price (1 Cor. 6: 19-20). We must treat our bodies as we would treat something on loan from a King, for that is exactly what we are. Would we feed royalty mediocre food, ill-prepared and malnutritious? Would we expect royalty to be sluggish and dilapidated in form, or strong and capable? Or would we feed someone of high esteem the very best, prepared with attention and knowledge of nutritious benefit, and praise the sight of them keeping healthy with physical activity to meet their demands? Not everyone needs to have a six-pack, but we should all seek to maintain healthy lifestyles, eating healthy foods, and getting daily activity into our days. We should not all look the same, but we should all feel lively, energetic, and full of vitality. God created food for energy, to fuel our bodies and make us capable to live to the fullest each day. He provided activities to strengthen our bodies, work out our minds, and challenge us to push ourselves to the next level, whether that be in lifting weights, gardening, skiing, dancing, etc. We are of great worth, and our lives should reflect this internal value system, created and placed there by God Himself; not one of pride or conceit, but humility, honor, and love of our Father. May your thoughts and actions be held to the standard of our Lord, carrying you through each day, and bringing you to fulfillment in Him.

Physical Health and Spiritual Health

I have recently had my eyes opened to the relationship between physical health and spiritual health. The fact is, our responses to both can be ridiculously alike. Some of us learn something new about an area in our lives that needs attention and immediately get to work in chipping away the rocky areas to reveal the smooth stone underneath. Others of us may hear what we need to do, but not want to face the effort that we know will go into changing our condition, and therefore ourselves. Then there are those of us who hear what we need to do and completely deny the fact that we need to do it. We blatantly say, “Well, that may work for others, but it is not going to work for me so I am going to keep doing what I am doing.”

God’s hope, obviously is that we all respond to His revelations with wholehearted obedience, because of our relationship with Him; one which is built upon knowing that we know that we know that God loves us and wants only the best for us, even if He is leading us down a path that will clearly bring some pain or discomfort. He is able to see the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” for us, even if we cannot see anything clearly yet. He knows that even though we will need to endure and persevere through a trying time, the life that will emerge from the difficult time will be a beautiful diamond, full of fulfillment and true happiness, where He has allowed us to partner with Him in writing us into His story and revealing His glory. Those of us who are able to keep our eyes on God and His vision for our lives will be able to withstand trials of this world, because “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).” Only in our trust of God can we truly begin to follow Him without hesitation. The critical element in being able to trust God, though, is first understanding the character of God. If we have trust issues with God, it is because we do not yet know His character and that He alone is trustworthy. Our God is such an awesome and wonderful God, and when we really embrace how much He loves us, how desperately He wants us to be whole in this world of brokenness, we will be able to willingly follow and obey His leading, even in times of uncertainty and fear.

When God calls us to behave a certain way, He is doing so because He knows that it will result in us experiencing true freedom in this world and therefore true happiness, found in joy. God does not tell us to obey so that we can be respected, or brought into positions of authority or influence, or so that we can become wealthy. His goals are deeper than that for us. He is not focused on the external, but the internal condition. It is for this reason that the Pharisees were rejected by Christ; their actions may have been obedient to the law, but their hearts were selfish and greedy with a wrong motivation. They sought prestige and power, not closeness and relationship with God. He understands that when we seek to know Him more intimately through our daily bible study and quiet time with Him throughout the day, in prayer, we will begin to be transformed from the inside out, naturally flowing with compassion for others, respect for our spouses, patience with our children, and many other displays of spiritual fruit. We will no longer have to “try” to live in the spirit, because the spirit will just flow freely through us in our actions. James 2: 18 says, “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” James understood that his faith and relationship with God naturally flowed and showed in his behavior and his actions. He lived a lifestyle that resulted in Godly behavior.
So, what does this have to do with fitness? Plenty! If our motivation to lose weight is so that we can be more lovable, sexier, thinner, etc. than we are aiming for a goal that is too focused on the surface. Gaining abs for abs sake should not be the goal, but living a lifestyle of predictable discipline (both in exercise and nutrition), which will naturally result in a healthy looking body, should be the intention. When we view our exercise as a means of conditioning our bodies so that they can be stronger and more capable to handle daily tasks, we are thinking of things in truth. When we eat foods because they fuel our bodies with the necessary energy to live each day, knowing that we will in turn have more energy and feel better overall (both mentally and physically), we are living with a truth-focused mindset.

God’s love and offer for TRUE happiness and fulfillment can only be found through walking with Him each day and applying His Word. Our walk with Him prepares us for difficult situations and keeps us “at the ready” for tests and temptations that may arise. Similarly, our food and exercise choices offer us the chance to live a life where we are comfortable in our skin, are able to move about freely, and can face the years with confidence and focus, no matter what circumstances lay ahead. As a result of healthy nutrition and regular exercise, we have more vitality, energy, and feel good about ourselves. Our bodies begin to show on the outside what is happening inside. Our God-given physique begins to emerge, that which God knit together when we were in our mother’s womb, and that body may or may not look like the bodies on the cover of “Shape” magazine. I pray that we all seek to develop a lifestyle of discipline and predictable patterns of health, understanding that our bodies will reflect our choices, but not be the motivation for those choices. Let us each take care of the body that God has given us; we only have one.

"Train a child up in the way he should go...."

With the media coverage of the Swine Flu illness that has been seen in addition to the normal seasonal flu, and found to be present in the deaths of several children in this country and around the world, I found it necessary to further educate myself on the condition of the people who were found to be most susceptible to the sickness; to the point of death.

After searching around for statistics on the internet to see what was available, I was able to find a medical research paper on the flu, its victims, and their conditions prior to becoming sick with the swine flu. Majority of the children had been suffering with very serious conditions that clearly weakened their immune system and obviously effected their ability to fight the bug. I was surprised to see that one of the conditions listed on the sheet as pre-existing, and an obvious factor in the body's ability to effectively fight off the illness, was obesity. OBESITY! A completely preventable "disease"! And this got me thinking, "God, we must do a better job at raising our children in the way they should go; taking care of their bodies, and treating them with the same love and respect that You show us in your design and creation!" But, I praise our Lord who has given us a path to follow to help rear our children and protect them with the knowledge of healthy living that they may be girded with the best chance for physical success. Thank you Lord that there are some areas we can "control" with the wisdom and knowledge that You have provided for us to use in our lives.

Although this topic is pressing at this time, because of it being the season for sickness, the information is valuable all throughout the year. First of all, we as parents, are the teachers our children will learn from the most, whether or not they are in school out of the house. We have been sanctioned, by God, to teach them "the way they should go", (Proverbs 22:6); not teachers, not principles, not bus drivers, pastors, youth leaders, etc. Us! Deuteronomy 6:7 says, "Impress [God's commands] on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." So, to me, this looks like let your lifestyle be a teaching tool. This is not a subtle request; it is a mandate, one about which I am sure God is very serious. So, when we are regularly taking our children to McDonald's for fried foods, Burger King for a milk shake, or indulging them with their pleas for "more" candy, dessert, etc. or allowing excess tv watching and not enough active play time, whether indoors or out, we are preparing them for an adulthood of the same habits. I know there is not a parent alive that wants to prepare their child for weight struggles, but this kind of habitual and regularly malnourished food and lack of health activity will lead to just such an adult existence. I'm not talking about the "once-in-a-whilers" either, because even complete refraining from things such as fast food or a fun movie-going experience can have backwards effects on the mind of a child, especially if the "why" of refraining is not explained as the intellect of a child increases. Complete denial of these things is not the answer either.

The goal is to find the healthy balance. "Do not swerve to the left or to the right; keep your foot from evil," Proverbs 4:27. We must learn to develop nutritious meals that we enjoy as a family, so that we can teach our children the benefits and the enjoyment that can be gained in eating the wonderfully delicious foods God Himself created! We can also enjoy the occasional treat to the candy store, or ice cream shop, knowing that it is a treat, and not something that should be put into our bodies on a routine basis. What is the point of a decadent chocolate cheesecake if you cannot enjoy it since you eat it all the time? It is awesome to teach our children how to enjoy the things that we can enjoy once in a while; what a valuable lesson that is in life.

In addition to nutrition, we can all, both adults and children alike, benefit from adding activity into our lives. I must admit, I definitely understand the difficulty of this as a family in today's indoor and high-tech lifestyles, but a return to traditional enjoyment can still benefit us today. Family bike rides, walks, trips to the playground, games of tag, and other fun activities are a lively way to increase the pulse and get loads of laughs. We do not just need to teach our children that activity means doing 1000 sit-ups or climbing a Stairmaster for an hour. I do not know many children that would jump for joy at the thought of sharing in such an activity (nor do I know many adults who would....) Other great ways to increase activity, and build up the family togetherness, is through a common labor project outdoors, such as gardening, painting, building something, etc. I envy the farmers of the field, who so easily have a valuable teaching tool at their disposal each and every day.

But, it is not too late to increase the knowledge and wisdom of our children, so that they too can grow to be health conscious and life loving adults when their childhood is behind them. I most definitely believe that we all as mothers will look on with much joy knowing that the lifestyles that we worked so hard to develop within ourselves did not ring back empty, but nurtured fertile soil which sprouted into trees bearing fruit. What a great day when it will be said, "May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice!" Proverbs 23:25. Now, that is a reason to eat-in.