In a society that is very focused on outward appearances we have all become very familiar with those obnoxious informercials that tout the latest and greatest way to exercise, the newest diet fad and the next miracle additive that will keep us thin and desirable with no effort at all. I know I am not the last nor have I been the first to fall for some pretty kooky ways to lose weight.
Becoming a member of the over forty crowd has been hard on my ego. I don't lose weight as easily as I used to. In fact, in the last three attempts I have lost nothing at all! How's that for an ego-buster? I was so desperate that I even trooped off to the store to buy a supplement I saw on television... Sprinkle it on my food and miraculously I would start to shed the pounds that exercise and deprivation had so far failed to deliver. I stopped short of spending the exorbitant amount of money, however, once I saw the ingredient list consisted of some very common and non-weight-loss-related items. I guess my age did me some good... It saved me some cash!
Reading the labels helped me see that my desire for a quick fix consisted of nothing more than a great marketing campaign and a glossy package containing little more than salt... I walked away disappointed, but feeling good about my choice. Losing weight was going to have to be done the old fashioned way - Through some hard work and discipline.
The same can be said of my spiritual body. How many times have I wanted God to hand me some quick results instead of doing the work to make my desires come to fruition? Exercising my spiritual body to keep it healthy is as important as my physical needs and it too means doing some hard work that takes my time and my energy to complete. What's more is the underlying fact that I don't always get quick results. Exercising my spiritual muscles means doing it over and over and over, until I am proficient at it and it is a habit of choice. It is also WORK!
I wish it was as easy as those television endorsements say it is to lose weight, but building a sound spiritual body takes time and lots of effort. It takes wanting to make myself be the person that I am not naturally inclined to be. It means putting God before my desire to sleep in or meet with friends on Worship nights. It means that I will have to sacrifice my desire for comfort to fulfill my desire to be more of God's child. It means that I need to educate myself on how to become a better Christian each and every day.
Like so many things in this world there is a lot of misinformation out there. If I didn't know something about ingredients and weight loss to start with, I might have fallen for the scheme of the sprinkle diet. Because I do know the truth, I was able to side-step that pitfall, but how many others have not? The same follows for our spiritual lives. How many folks can you think of right now that have been misled about what a Christian person should or should not look like? Even one is too many, isn't it?
Do you look like a Christian? What does a Christian look like? Would folks be able to recognize that you even are one? I think about that quite a bit. I want people to know that I love the Lord, but I am also a very flawed and fallen individual. I get concerned with whether or not someone might take a look at my life and reject Christ because I have bouts of hypocritical and sinful behavior. I have researched this very dilemma and God has been faithful to provide some beautiful and simple pictures.
In Matthew chapter 13, the Lord delivers the parable of the sower. A farmer goes out to his fields and begins to spread his seed. Some falls on the ground and the birds come and eat it up, some lands in rocky soil and springs up quickly at first but whithers and dies when the sun beats down upon it because it hasn't got deep roots. Other seed is choked out by weeds and yet others fall on good soil and produce well beyond what the farmer had hoped. The meaning is explained later to mean that our only job is to throw out the seed of God's story and good news, He is the one who is responsible for it's landing in the right place at the right time. We cannot dictate how someone will react to the Word. We cannot know if it will be tossed aside (as in the birds eating it up), whether it will look like it took root, but in times of stress wither and die, or whether it will get choked out by the busyness of life. We can only be responsible for throwing it out there as commanded and for making sure that what we throw out is the true and unadulterated instruction of God - NOT our man-made imposition of perfection.
In the same respect I do need to be aware of my actions and my words when I am in the company of non or new believers. There is a lot of misinformation out there and if they haven't been taught correctly (or at all, for that matter) they could misconstrue my freedoms in Christ as sinful or "non-Christian" behavior and become discouraged. Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians 10:23-24. He explains that all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. I should be on constant alert to make sure that my choices would benefit those around me, not cause them to stumble or become confused. At times that means exercising restraint on my freedoms and curtailing my desires, even when I know they aren't sinful.
Bottom line, just like all the kooky, crazy myths surrounding dieting out there, there are even more frustrating and unfounded ideas about Christianity. It isn't our job to right every wrong, but being armed with the true and clarifying Word of God can go a long way to halting some devastating misconceptions. Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven. Our greatest asset lies in the absolute grace of God that forgives us when we confess our sins to Him with a repentant heart. We have the luxury of tapping into that grace each and every moment of every day. Don't we owe it to others to be considerate enough to discipline our hearts so they can learn that too?
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