Treatment and Prognosis for being overweight (2)

If This is the first time you have come to the website, you will find it easier to understand if you read the introduction on the left first, and then the previous blogs before reading this one.

......continued from previous post

These are the words of David, a man after God’s own heart, a man who had no Bible, but rejoiced in the law of the Lord – the first five books of the Bible.  He had come to know God on a personal level in a way that most of us are envious of, but he had found the secret of meditating on God’s word, and finding God as a result, even more than that knowing God’s heart, so that God praised him that he was a man after God’s own heart. (1 Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22) 

In order to be eating the meat and solid food of the Word, we need to sit down at the table and spend time chewing over the harder passages of the bible.  Asking God to help us understand, to apply it to our lives, to allow God to convict and correct.  Just as we are told in 1 Timothy 3:16  “all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness”.  This is an all round diet, for every situation, for every Christian mature or newborn.  God has given us a much more comprehensive text book than David had, but even so many may still be looking for the crumbs rather than taking man-sized bites that nourish the soul.

If the diet is addressed, the next thing that needs addressing, is spiritual exercise.  Some Christians, some churches may be clinically obese, because they are not actually exercising.  Their diet is good, but they are “on the take” and never give out, never actually put into practice all they have learned, hence the result is the same as those who live on junk food and deserts – spiritual obesity.

What is spiritual exercise?

Maybe you are thinking of the 39 Spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola – which are a compilation of meditations, prayers, and contemplative practices developed by St Ignatius to help people deepen their relationship with God.   If you are ready for this kind of discipline, and are hungry and thirsty for God and desire a deeper relationship with him then by all means do these exercises.  

I believe though, that when spiritual obesity is a problem because of lack of exercise, the 39 exercises of St. Ignatius may be a bit overwhelming for someone who has been involved in minimal exercises.  Rather like someone just recovering from a heart operation trying to run a marathon – it could have dire results.  Not that the exercise is not good, but it is something that you need to build up to in gradual increments.  So what would be some easy exercises to begin with?

·         The discipline of daily time with God’s word

·         The  discipline of mediation, and waiting on God to help us understand what we  

          have read

·         The discipline of prayer

·         The discipline of examining our hearts before God, and asking him to reveal to us 

           anything that he may be displeased with, and dealing with it immediately

·         The discipline of hearing God’s voice throughout the day – reminding us of a 

          scripture, prompting us to some action, assuring us of his presence

·         Taking opportunities to witness

·         Reach out in service within the church

·         Seek to disciple or mentor new or struggling Christians

·         Having regular fellowship with Christians who challenge us and hold us spiritually 

          accountable, so that we are growing in maturity in our faith

·         Lift our eyes up to see the harvest – the millions and billions of people who as yet 

          do not know God, and seek God’s face as to what your role should be in obeying  

          the great commission

1 Peter 1:3 – 10 were some verses given to me by Nora Vickers, who had been the principal of Redcliffe College when I attended.  Years after she gave me these verses, I must have read them many times before she wrote them in a book that she gave me, but as I read them anew they seemed to be the most obvious thing a Christian should do in order that they would be effective and productive in their Christian life.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.   For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.   Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

So if we have done all these things they will safe guard us from being spiritually obese, and contributing to the sickness of the church.  We will find that God’s spirit is revealing new things to us daily, and the   “fountain of water springing up to eternal life” which Jesus offered to the woman of Samaria John 4:14 will become an individual experience and daily reality for each of us.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, that being spiritually overweight may not be true of us.

Treatment and prognosis for being Overweight (1)

If This is the first time you have come to the website, you will find it easier to understand if you read the introduction on the left first, and then the previous blogs before reading this one.

Fortunately, unlike the physical problem of obesity and dangers resulting from it, spiritual obesity can easily be rectified, although it will take a complete change in mindset and lifestyle in two areas – diet and exercise.

Diet: spiritual desserts, snack foods and even junk foods are not in themselves wrong, the problem is that when these become the main source of a Christian’s sustenance they have an adverse affect on the Christian’s spiritual health.  What is the normal diet, for a normal Christian?  A complete range of every kind of spiritual food.  The New Testament writers talk about the word of God being milk and meat or solid food.  

1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,”

Heb 5:12 – 14  “ ……….you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

1 Cor 3:1 – 3 “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ.  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.” 

Those who are unable to search the scriptures themselves and allow the Holy Spirit to teach them himself will find that they never move on from the elementary teaching of the Christian life.  Hebrews 6:1- 3  tells us “ let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment, and God permitting we will do so….”  These are classified as elementary subjects, lessons from the 1^st and 2^nd grade -  we need to be growing, to be pushing on in our Christian lives so that we are understanding passages, teachings, books and chapters which were like closed books to us in the past, but now have become manna to our souls.  

Psalm  19:7 - 11                                                                                                                                                                                          The law of the LORD is perfect,  reviving the soul.

The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.

The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.

By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

to be continued........

Problem No 5: Overweight

If This is the first time you have come to the website, you will find it easier to understand if you read the introduction on the left first, and then the previous blogs before reading this one.

Symptoms and cause

Everyone knows what being overweight means – fat! In a human being it often means that the person finds it increasingly hard to move around.  When it gets to the obese stage, this can become life threatening, and bodily functions can be affected – coronary heart disease is probably the first problem we may think of, as a result of obesity the coronary arteries become blocked, and blood flow to the heart is reduced which will eventually lead to heart failure, because the heart just cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs.    

Other ailments include diabetes, hypertension, pulmonary disease, reproductive disorders, osteoarthritis to name just a few.  So what is the cause of obesity?  This goes back, usually to the diet.  We can probably all think of foods, or what kind of diet causes obesity in human beings, how about the church?  Well, snack foods, junk foods, and addiction to desserts and a sweet tooth can result in spiritual obesity.   

What are spiritual snack foods, junk foods, fast foods and desserts spiritually? 

Desserts? – those are the sweet teachings of the bible – the promises that are for every Christian – God’s promises of his presence, his help and protection, his provision and deliverance, his revenge upon our enemies.  These sort of verses are sweet to the Christian and remind us of his greatness.

Snack foods and fast foods? – this is the quick thought for the day, the verses that get bounded around the internet and across mobile phones, facebook, line etc.  Snatching at spiritual mini bites for the busy Christian who has no time, or has made no time to sit and pray and meditate upon God’s word for more than a few minutes.

Junk food? – verses taken out of context, but sound really encouraging and convince us that we have:

·         Every right to be rich and prosperous. 

·         Every right to expect uninterrupted health and security.

·         Every right to be exempt from hardship or suffering.

Verses in this category are probably the main reasons why so many fall away from following the Lord, because they feel that God has let them down, forgotten them, or actually doesn’t exist at all.

These are the three main contenders that make for spiritually obese Christians.  Such Christians who have a diet of these things will find that they are building up in their spirits and in the end will result in them becoming inactive, unproductive and ineffective.

Besides existing on a spiritually poor diet, it is also noted that most, or many spiritually obese Christians also take no exercise or just minimal exercise so exacerbating the problem.