The Bible hasn’t much to say about exercise (it “profits but a little”), which was not necessary to a culture that walked everywhere and where most people did manual labor to earn a living. It does say much about excess and gluttony though. Controlling my appetite is important, not just for keeping myself at a healthy weight. It has spiritual implications.
We once attended the church where the author of my devotional book, Truth for Today, is the pastor. In a sermon about self-control, he said to start small. You might not be up to keeping your whole house clean but start with your desk. The point of his message was that self-control in one area of life had an impact in all areas.
This week I heard a man on a Christian radio program who was also a pastor. He had allowed his appetite too much freedom and wound up quite overweight. Rather than continue that way, he felt that his excesses were a poor testimony to the power of Christ, so he lost the weight. He had lots to say about the significance this was having on both his health and his credibility as a messenger of the Gospel.
The apostle Paul knew that this was so. He likened the Christian life to a race where the prize is a “Well done” and a rewarding crown at the end. He didn’t mean we earned eternal life but that we did have a responsibility before God to live as people who were doing His will and His work. He said:
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)The older King James version uses these words: “But I buffet my body and bring it into subjection. . . .” A man once said this is buf-fet, not buffet (silent t). (It is funnier with sound; the first is the buffeting that means beating against, the other the word for eating at a smorg.)
In other words, watching what I eat will have an effect on the way I run my race. God can uses people who exercise self-discipline at the table in ways that He cannot use people who continually indulge their appetite. It is about self-control vs. selfish indulgence, and that control shows up in not only what I eat but in other areas of life.
This year, a friend and I covenanted together to not spend money for excess. For example, if we are making a quilt and need fabric for the back and cannot make do with pieces from our stash, then we can buy a new piece, but the idea is to work with what we have. We also covenanted together to lose weight.
These two disciplines may seem miles apart, but they are not. Both involve self-control over indulgence. Instead of that piece of pie, eat some fruit, or nothing. Instead of that ‘must have’ book, we walk out of the store, or better yet, stay out of the store in the first place.
We are holding one another accountable. We both passed on a big sale at the local fabric shop. We are both thinking creatively about what we already have. I’m not sure of her results, but I’ve lost (and kept off) a couple pounds according to my goal for this month.
Being accountable to someone is a good idea. When I’m tempted by food, or fabric, or anything else, I think of her face (she smiles a lot) and want to keep her smiling. Yet both of us know that it is really the Lord that we want to please. According to these verses, disciplining ourselves will do that, but also will make us better equipped to serve Him. Both of us also know that without His help and His Spirit, we would never think of doing this, or want to, never mind have any success at it.
By putting up this post, I guess I’m making myself accountable to whoever might be reading it. This covenant is for 2009 and will make it a very interesting year!
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