Mark 12:30 (NLT)
And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
The highlights from week four:
1. In a superficial world where our airbrushed role models are muscled men or toned women, its easy to lose sight of what really matters- the health we do have. I understand you want to drop a few pounds (or a few dozen), turn the spare tire into a washboard. But as I sit the the doctor’s waiting room awaiting my battery of mission trip shots, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to YAHWEH for allowing me such excellent health.
2. When we choose Christ, we choose to lay our lives down not only as a sacrifice, but as a living one. That means at least two things to me:
1. Because I’m a living sacrifice, I can get up off the alter anytime I want.
2. I am not here to merely exist, but to live!
In order to live life to the fullest and minister to others as part of our reasonable sacrifice, we must live. Be healthy and well. Barring anything from GOD and beyond our control, Christ-followers should be the healthiest people in the world. A healthy lifestyle and eating habits should be part of that light we shine to the world. GOD desires his people to be fit and well so we can accomplish his purposes for us.
3. Holding a grudge or unforgiveness not only wreaks havoc on your spirit, mind, and heart- but your body as well. Unforgiveness, along with the accompanying anger and bitterness, causes muscle tension, strain on the heart, blood pressure issues, risk of heart attack or disease, hypertension (and many other enormous medical words I don’t understand). Harboring unforgiveness wraps a chain around you that keeps you locked up, miserable, and confined. And there’s no lock on the chain- we hold onto the chain.
4. Laughter is the mark of a healthy person. It releases chemicals which make you feel good, lower blood pressure, sink depression, and cause relaxation. And if you laugh hard enough, you even get an ab workout.
5. Laugh at yourself. Quit taking everything so seriously.
Applications: quit merely existing and live life to the fullest, forgive others for overall health, learn to laugh, be willing to laugh at yourself, live-laugh-love
Nutrition Tips: avoid pork and other “dirty/unclean” foods, don’t eat when emotional or use food as a therapy, don’t eat a big meal close to bed time, pack your lunch to save money and nutritional guilt
Exercise Tips: when exercising- be a kid, use exercise as a positive way to release emotions, place a high priority on exercise (after GOD, family, and so forth), find an accountability/training partner
Author’s Note: This wraps up the physical body. Tomorrow, we progress to the second part of the Whole Body- the mind. Be encouraged to continue taking care of your physical body, even as we move our focus to the mind. Press on-
