For over a year I’ve been
serious about diet and exercise and now that my weight loss is more noticeable
it’s often the topic of conversations when I run into friends and family.
Recently a friend lamented about her more mature body shape, “I’m the same
weight I was in high school, but everything has shifted.” Many yearn for the youthful
things of this world — physique, physical strength and hair color. However,
Paul remind us, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts
on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:1-3 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----I tried for years to get my eating habits better under control. But every time I went into a shop which sold also candy bars, my vehicle floorboard got another candy wrapper. And my inner mind got another expression about the relative unimportance of weight loss.
-----But a little over a year ago I shifted gears while my mind wasn’t watching. I stopped thinking about weight loss and started thinking about volume loss. Eight pounds isn’t much to loose. 225 to 217 just isn’t that much reward for all the missed candy bars. But a gallon (which is about eight pounds) lost from around the waste is a lot of volume. When I shifted mindsets, almost instantly my mind began retorting at the sight of candy bars, “No. No. No, I’m going for another gallon!”
-----There are many youthful things good for carrying into eternity. You’re right about the body not being one of them. But one of those youthful things tends to tote good health and fitness along with it: righteousness, peace, and joy. When a child is finished with the mayhem of play and is ready for rest, he wants the joy of peacefulness to be what’s right. It is like an expectation. And as a Dad, one of my most seriously taken obligations was to do all I could towards making my children’s home a peaceful place where they could relate to the joyful effects of things having been done right.
-----I always thought it was brilliant of Paul to relate the kingdom of heaven to righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It’s such a simple thing. But it is so profound. Righteousness is no longer a popular word. And I think it is because too many people perceive it to be the doing of religious things instead of what it really is: just simply doing what is right. Setting the mind on doing what is right is a more concrete element of setting the mind on things above, because one of the more basic elements of the things above is everything being done right. Everything being done right makes everything peaceful. And everything being peaceful is really joyful. So, the more right we can do now also makes for more peace and joy now, as well as being a soul-builder unto more heavenly things.
-----Taking good care of the body is right. I’m not so sure the starved “Twiggy” effect is exactly right. But maintaining a healthy gallonage is right, whether those gallons have sloshed around a little or not.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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