My Post-Holiday Funk

January 12, 2012 3 Comments

Financially speaking, this month of January tends to be a more trying month for Tonya and myself than other months. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce the reason: Christmas hangover. It’s not that we go wild with Christmas shopping and cross the line into sin with it. It’s just that spending any amount of any month’s “extra” income on presents affects the next month’s checkbook. That’s simple math.

A preacher reminded a financially strapped church-member that 1st Thessalonians 5:18 says: “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” The church-member said, “I don’t see what I have to be thankful for, preacher. I’m buried in debt. I can’t pay my bills. I can’t make my payments, and on top of it all I just lost my job.” The preacher thought for a moment and answered, “Well, be thankful that you aren’t one of your creditors!”

No, it’s not that bad with my family’s finances, but it’s not helping matters that I’m also suffering from some kind of post-holiday, winter malaise. For whatever reason, I’ve been having trouble getting energized this new year. During the holidays, with Tonya and the boys home from school, we all got off schedule by sitting up later and sleeping in later. When school started back up, they got back on track, but I’m still having trouble breaking out of that pattern. I’ve got to fix that. Also, I had been doing an excellent job of getting in thirty minutes of daily exercise leading up to Christmas. But I’m now on my third week or so of taking a break from that. I’ve got to fix that too and get back on that exercise machine.

I was listening to the radio a few days ago and actually heard a disc-jockey address what I’ve been experiencing. He said the post-holiday letdown is very normal and that it is brought on by eating too much, not getting enough exercise, and sleeping too much. I thought, “Wow, he must be following me around with a camcorder!” At least I was encouraged that my problem is fairly typical.

Oh, and another thing that isn’t helping my mood or energy level these days is the weather we’ve been getting here in the mountains of western North Carolina. Like a lot of other folks across the country, we’re mired in one of those winters that doesn’t know it’s a winter. Since the beginning of December we’ve had unseasonably warm weather and a lot of rain. Such weather just kind of wears on you when you’ve grown up in these mountains and are used to subfreezing temperatures and snow. As I recall, we’ve only had two snowfalls so far this winter. One was a barely measurable trace that got the grass white for a little while, and the other was a couple of inches that didn’t exactly get everyone buzzing either. The forecast does call for the possibility on an inch or so tonight, but, again, that’s not enough to really get our juices flowing around here.

Anyway, I just thought that I’d share some of this info with you guys, my readers, today. Maybe someone else out there is experiencing some of the same post-holiday funk that I’m experiencing. If you are, I invite you to join me in slipping back into gear and getting back up to speed. 2012 is a big new adventure that is just lying there waiting for us. If you believe certain doomsday interpretations of the ancient Mayan calendar, it’s even our last year. (I don’t believe those interpretations, by the way.) What I do believe, though, is that God wants to do great things in us, for us, and through us this year. So let’s stop sulking around, overeating, oversleeping, and worrying about our finances and start living with the faith, energy, zest, zeal, and confident expectation with which He would have us. And, yes, I’m preaching to myself on that.

Filed under Attitude, Christmas, dieting, Gluttony, Money, New Year, Personal, Thankfulness, weather Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Man’s Body

February 18, 2011 Leave a comment

This will be the last post in a little three-part series on the subject of man’s spirit, soul, and body. This time we’ll deal with man’s body. I’ll grant you that the body is more easily understood than the spirit or the soul, but my guess is that there are still some important things that you need to learn about it.

The best way to describe yourself is like this: You are a soul; you possess a spirit; and you live in a body. Really, the only thing that others see of you is your body. Furthermore, whatever you get done in this world, you’ll do it via your body. As mysterious and wonderful as the spirit and soul are, they aren’t much for mowing the yard, cooking a meal, holding down a job, reading the Bible, going to church, witnessing, etc. You need body parts (eyes, ears, arms, legs, feet, a brain, a skeletal structure, etc.) to get those things done.

This is why, at the moment of a person’s salvation, God the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the person’s body, not the person’s spirit or soul (Romans 5:5; Romans 8:5-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:5). Just as a pilot flies an airplane, a captain steers a ship, or a driver drives a car, the indwelling Holy Spirit wants to be at the controls of the person’s body. Also, having God the Holy Spirit inside your body automatically turns your body into a temple. Please understand that everyone’s body is not a temple. That honor is reserved exclusively for the Spirit-indwelt believer (the genuine Christian). The body-builder, the yoga instructor, the fitness guru, and the health- food advocate may all have bodies that are in peak condition, but if these people don’t know Christ as Savior their bodies aren’t temples. Only Christians have “temple bodies.”

Still, though, just because a Christian’s body is a temple and the indwelling Holy Spirit is in there, that doesn’t mean that the Christian has handed over the controls to the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul understood this and said to the Christians of the city of Rome:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)

That term “living sacrifice” is an odd one, isn’t it? How can a sacrifice survive an altar of death? How can it live once it has become a sacrifice? The answer is: The Christian’s body remains alive, but the inner will, which is sin-tainted, corrupt, and prone to take destructive paths, dies on the altar. The body will now be used to carry out that which is “holy, acceptable to God.” The indwelling Holy Spirit will be given the controls unreservedly. He will now fly the plane, captain the ship, and drive the car.

But would you believe that even the indwelling Holy Spirit will not stop the aging process? Mark it down, the bodies of non-Christians and Christians alike wear down over time and eventually cease working. This goes back to the sin in the garden of Eden. Genesis 2:16-17 says:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Hebrew scholars tell us that the original Hebrew behind the words “you shall surely die” literally mean “dying you shall die.” You see, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit their bodies began the long, long process of dying, and eventually that process culminated in their physical deaths. Genesis 5:5 says that Adam actually lived 930 years, but that verse ends with the words “and he died.” And the members of his race have been dying ever since, haven’t they?

But did you know that when all of the various stages of God’s sweeping, eons-long, prophetic program have played themselves out, not one body will be left unresurrected? This isn’t the time or place for me to go into every last detail of that prophetic program, but concerning the resurrections John 5:28-29 is a good summation passage. There Jesus says:

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Notice that Jesus spoke of two categories of resurrection. There will be the resurrection of life, and there will be the resurrection of condemnation. Scripture teaches that the saved believers from all of history will have their bodies resurrected and glorified, even though there won’t be one general “resurrection day” upon which it all happens. (As I said, there are multiple stages to God’s grand plan of prophecy.) But what about the bodies of the lost people from all history? Well, those bodies will all be resurrected too, but for them the resurrection will not involve glorification. Also, their bodies will all be resurrected on a single day. This day will occur at the end of Christ’s 1,000-year reign upon this earth, and it is described in Revelation 20:11-15.

You can read that passage for your homework, but I’ll go ahead and tell you that the bodies of the lost are called forth from wherever their final resting places are (graves, the sea, etc.). Each body is then reunited with the soul that once inhabited it, as each soul is called forth from that unimaginably horrific place we know as “hell.” And it is then that the lost person will be cast resurrected body and reunited soul into an even worse “hell” that is known as “the eternal lake of fire.” There the souls will not be annihilated and the bodies will not be burned up. Instead (and this is beyond tragic) each lost person will spend all eternity, body and soul, in that place of torment.

The Greek word for this eternal lake of fire is Gehenna, and Jesus says in Matthew 10:28:

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna).”

You see, the “Him” who is able to cast both soul and resurrected body into the eternal lake of fire called Gehenna is Jesus. But listen, He doesn’t want to do that to you! What He wants is for you to experience salvation by placing your belief in Him as your personal Savior. Once you do that, you won’t have to ever worry about the eternal fate of either your soul or your body, and you’ll be able to present your body as a living sacrifice to Him in this life and enjoy the awesome rewards of the afterlife. So, if you haven’t made this decision for Christ, won’t you do so right now? And, one last thing, get used to that body of yours because you’re going to be spending all eternity in it.

Filed under Belief, Church attendance, Coming Judgment, death, dieting, fear, God's Wrath, God's judgment, God's Will, Heaven, hell, Human Life, Personal Holiness, Prophecy, Reward, salvation, submission, The Holy Spirit Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What Kind Of Shape Are You In Spiritually?

January 7, 2011 Leave a comment

Christian, perhaps you are one of the hordes of people who have hit the new year full bore with a new diet or workout routine. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that. But even as you dutifully try to get your body in better condition, consider a word from A.W. Tozer about your spiritual condition. In a chapter entitled We Must Have Better Christians, which is a part of his book Of God & Men, he writes: 

“What is forgotten is that a Christian is a born-one, an embodiment of growing life, and as such may be retarded, stunted, undernourished, or injured very much as any other organism.”

      
I ask you, Christian, how is your spiritual condition heading into this new year? How is your prayer life? How is your Bible study? How is your church attendance? How is your giving? How is your witnessing? How is your personal testimony in regards to holy conduct? How is your service to others? These are important questions. 

Remember that the Bible says in 1 Timothy 4:8:

For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

Please understand that I’m not trying to deminish the “little” that bodily exercise profits. Many of us need that “little”! All I’m doing is offering a simple reminder that your spiritual condition is more important than your physical condition. Too many times we forget that in a world that is obsessed with outward appearances.

Filed under balance, Bible Study, Church attendance, dieting, giving, Holiness, New Year, Personal Holiness, Priorities, Witnessing Tagged with , , , , , , ,

My Weight Loss Goal Has Been Reached

March 1, 2010 Leave a comment

Approximately seven weeks ago, on January 13th, I posted a blog entitled “Diet Time Again.” In that blog, I announced that I had begun a diet. I wanted to get my weight down from 201 to 180. I also gave the specifics of my tried and true plan for weight loss.

Well, I’m happy to report that yesterday morning I reached my goal of 180 pounds. Now I can move into maintenance mode and try to stay in the close vacinity of this weight. Several years ago, I had a fair amount of success maintaining my weight after a previous diet. I actually held the weight for a few years before falling off the wagon and starting the upward climb. We’ll see how things go this time.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 says: “The end of a thing is better than its beginning.” Solomon didn’t have diets on his mind when he wrote those words, but he sure could have. When those scale numbers materialized into the number 180 yesterday morning, I felt such a tremendous wave of accomplishment surge through my now skinnier body. That “end” was certainly a lot better than the “beginning” of 201!

Today, there’s no doubt that my “temple of the Holy Spirit” is in better shape than it was at the start of this year. The thirty minutes of exercising I’ve been doing five or six days a week has my muscles toned, my energy level up, and my stamina level increased. I won’t say I’m in the best shape of my life because that title will always be held by my early twenties self. I weighed this same weight then, but didn’t have the bad back, nicked up knee, and touch of arthritis in my right pinkie. I also didn’t have the wear and tear of a lot of years of pastoring and parenting! Still, though, I think I’m doing alright for a guy who’s 43.

To those of you out there who are Christians and need to lose some weight, I want to offer this thought: your dieting will go much better if you will see your weight loss as a spiritual activity. Don’t think, “Oh, this is something that I have to do.” Think instead, “This is something that I need to do to do a better job of maintaining my temple of the Holy Spirit.”

You see, Christian, when you get the focus off you and onto God the Holy Spirit, who literally lives inside your body, that will get your perspective where it needs to be. When weight loss goes from being something you are doing for yourself to being something you are doing for Him, you stand a far greater chance of being successful with that weight loss.

And the great news is, when you lose the weight under that mentality, you will receive eternal rewards as well as the obvious earthly rewards. You won’t just lose weight; you will gain heavenly rewards at the judgment seat of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10). So, that’s like having your cake and eating it too! Oh, wait, that’s not the best comparison is it? Sorry about that.

Filed under dieting, Heaven, Personal, Reward Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

No Church Today

January 31, 2010 Leave a comment

We had to cancel church today due to our second big snow in six weeks. Whereas the December storm dumped a foot on us, this one only gave us six or seven inches. I suppose we should be grateful that the weather guys missed the forecast a little. We were supposed to have gotten a foot again.

I really do hate cancelling church. The fact is, I could get there. I have not one but two all-wheel-drive vehicles and am pretty good at driving on snow and ice. I could get the parking lot scraped too. My brother-in-law, Ben, has a big blade on his jeep and volunteers to handle that job for me.

So why cancel? I do it because I don’t want anybody getting hurt by trying to get to church on a wintry morning. If one car ended up in a ditch, I’d feel terrible. If one elderly person slipped and broke a hip while getting in or out of a car, I’d feel terrible. If one mother’s feet gave way and she went down while holding her child, I’d feel terrible. I know that we are not supposed to live in fear of what could happen, and I’m really not a “doom and gloom” person. But I don’t think God wants us to completely abandon common sense in some misguided, fanatical zeal about never missing a church service.

As I listened to the church closings on our local radio station this morning, it became obvious that 95% of the pastors took the same cautious approach I did today. No church was having regular services. One was only having an 11:00 worship service. A couple were having one 2:00 service this afternoon. But 95% just cancelled everything.

For me, a Sunday morning without church is like a basketball court without goals. It’s just not right. I’m not one of these people who secretly cheers when church gets cancelled. (Seriously, if you are such a person, you need to do some soul searching and figure out why getting to “legally” skip church excites you.) And it’s not just the fact that I want to preach. It seems like I’m always preparing sermons or preaching them. The thing is, I really do miss the fellowship and community of church. I enjoy being around my brothers and sisters in Christ. I enjoy them being a blessing to me and me being a blessing to them.

Oh well, my prayer on days like today is that cancelling services will help the members realize how much they enjoy coming to Disciples Road Church. It’s the old “absence makes the heart grow fonder” thing. I don’t ever want church attendance to become rut or ritual to them. I don’t even want it to become mere ”religion.” Christianity got off track when it became a religion. It was always supposed to be a relationship, a relationship between the believer and Jesus. And as a integral part of that relationship, the believer is supposed to attend church on Sunday, the first day of the week, as a way of celebrating Christ’s resurrection on that Sunday morning so long ago. Yes, Christians are supposed to do that celebrating every Sunday, not just Easter Sunday.

On a completely different note, I did get one bit of good news this morning. My scales weighed me at 187 pounds. So, I’ve lost 14 pounds in 20 days since I started my diet and exercise program. If you want to know the specifics of how I’m doing it, go back and read the post entitled “It’s Diet Time Again.” 

My goal is still to get somewhere between 175 and 180 pounds. From there I’ll just be trying to maintain. I’ve been in that range before, and I’ve even held it for a couple of years, but it doesn’t happen naturally. What naturally happens is me drifting back up over 200 pounds. Since I know that full well, maybe I can prevent it from happening this time and stay at my ideal weight. Now if I can just figure out a way to safely have church after a big snow on Saturday. That one is a little more problematic.            

Filed under Christ's Resurrection, church, Church attendance, dieting, Easter, Personal Tagged with , , , ,

A Couple Of Updates

January 20, 2010 Leave a comment

I thought I’d check in this afternoon and offer a couple of updates.

Update #1: We just added four more audio sermons to the church website (www.disciplesroadchurch.com). That makes a total of 22 sermons for your listening pleasure. The latest four are:

- ”Abortion”

-”In Defense Of The Virgin Birth”

- ”Jesus & Creation”

-”A Christian’s New Year’s Resolutions”

I think that each of these sermons will be a blessing to you, but in particular let me recommend the one on abortion. It’s a sermon I preached several years ago, and the introduction is dated in regards to the political people that I mention. But once you get past those opening minutes, you’ll find a clear and concise study of  what the Bible teaches about life in the womb. I also cover the arguments for abortion and explain how they match up with the Bible. Seriously, if you have any questions about this controversial issue, listen to this sermon. It’s only about 30 minutes long and it will help you.

Update #2: When I wrote that I was going on a diet, I promised that I’d check in with periodic reports. So here’s my first one: This morning my digital scales weighed me in at 194. That’s a loss of 7 pounds in 10 days. I’ll take that. I could have done a little better but I splurged this past weekend by eating out twice. That after- church buffet bar at K.F.C. was not diet friendly. Neither was the popcorn shrimp and fries I had Saturday night. All of it sure was tasty, though. You can’t just eat low-fat food all the time. You’ll turn yourself into a food martyr. Always remember to keep dieting in a proper balance. Do it, but don’t make it a form of idolatry that owns you.   

For the record, each day I’m still doing the two quarts of water, the 30 minutes of exercise, and limiting myself to no more than 2,000 calories and 30 fat grams. It ain’t always easy but it’s encouraging when the scales show progress. I’ll keep you posted.

Filed under abortion, dieting, Personal Tagged with , , , , ,

Diet Time Again

January 13, 2010 2 Comments

Well, this past Monday I hit the ground running on my new diet. My digital scales clocked me in at 201. That’s 20 to 25 pounds north of where I need to be. Since it’s been a few years since I really got into diet mode, I think I’m due for a reconfiguring.

Truth be told, in addition to my weight issues, my stomach has been bothering me quite a bit for the past several months. Too much fried food will do that. I was up to two tagaments a day because the heartburn had become such an issue.

I don’t worry that I won’t be able to lose weight. That’s not to brag, just to state the truth. I know I can drop pounds when I put my mind to it. I wasn’t always so confident, but several years ago I went from 225 to 175 in just a few months. That’s when I learned how to effectively shed weight.

My teacher was a Bariatric Clinic that Tonya and I attended for a while. They gave us a simple plan and guaranteed that we would lose weight if we followed it. For a male, it goes like this:

1. I’m allowed food and drinks totaling up to 30 fat grams and 2,000 calories per day.

2. I have to drink two quarts of water each day.

3. I have to put in 30 minutes of exercise each day.

Certainly there are all kinds of other diets out there (Atkins, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, etc.), and I’m sure these other plans will work too. For me, though, I know what’s done the trick in the past. I’ll dance with the one that brung me.

Back then, it took me a few weeks to get the hang of reading the sides of every box and learning to count fat grams and calories. Eventually, though, I became an expert at it. As for the 30 minutes of exercise, my weapon of choice is a treadmill. Yes, it’s old school, but it works. It’s been sitting there in my bedroom just waiting for the day when we’d get reaquainted. I can drink one of my two required quarts of water while walking on it and watching t.v.          

The exercising is fine once you get in the habit of it. It really does give you more energy. Drinking all that water is a bit of a chore, but it’s not too terrible. The hardest thing is the difference in the tastes of foods. With a few notable exceptions, fattening food does taste better. Don’t believe the hype about not being able to tell the difference between regular food and low-fat food. But as the old saying goes, no pain no gain (or in this case, no loss).

If I needed any reassurance that my tried and true system still works, my digital bathroom scales have been giving it to me. By Tuesday morning I had gone from 201 to 199. This morning I was at 198. The slow process has begun. Oh, I’m well aware that losing the first handful of pounds is the easiest. Just drinking the water will accomplish that. If I’ll stay on course, though, the scales will continue to be friendly. Like so many things, the plan will work if I will work the plan.

I’m not one of these fitness fanatics who is going to lose my mind over my appearance. I’m not going to bow down before weight loss as an idol either. (I’ll admit that I experienced a touch of that when I lost all that weight years ago.) And, yes, I’ve read 1 Timothy 4:8, which says: “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things…” Every overweight preacher knows that verse. If you don’t mind, though, if I can get in on that “little” profit without sacrificing any godliness, I’ll take all the profit I can get.

I think the better scripture concerning weight loss is 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, which says that God the Holy Spirit’s indwelling of the Christian’s body makes that body a temple. As such, the Christian is told to “glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Admittedly, those verses are found in the context of a warning about sexual immorality, not weight loss. Still, the basic idea can be applied in any number of ways, including that of excess weight.

I do know that too many Christians are far too flippant about this subject. Preachers, in particular, are notorious for making jokes about it. For example, one old joke says that a preacher’s belt is nothing more than a fence around a chicken graveyard. Yes, that’s funny. It loses some of its humor, though, when a guy has been preaching for fifteen minutes and is red in the face, out of breath, and in need of a chair. Getting drunk or having an affair isn’t the only way to defile a temple.

As the weeks move along, I’ll keep you posted here and there on how my diet is going. I’m also trying to make some other changes for this new year. I want to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. That’s hard for a born night-owl. I want to watch less television. I want to listen to more preaching and contemporary Christian music. I’ve already started writing a second book. This one deals with prayer. Hopefully, and prayfully, I’ll make great strides in all of these areas as 2010 unfolds. One thing’s for sure: I’ve got plenty of room in my life for improvement.

Filed under Choices, Christian Liberty, dieting, Personal, The Holy Spirit, The New Year Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

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