Essentials for Life & 2010 part 2

3. Evaluate How You Exercise.

Our bodies need exercise! For it is in exercise we increase our heart rate, promote muscle activity and aid neurological integration, so our bodies work as they were designed. I have been fairly athletic throughout the course of my life. Whether it was basketball, soccer, baseball, softball, golf, etc., it didn’t matter; I played it. But for the last 10 years or so I allowed life to get in the way of physical exercise and my health ultimately. It’s easy to do, isn’t it? This last Fall I was demonstrating some soccer moves to my kids and in the process strained my calf muscle, an injury I have never had before. My muscles were weak and could not perform as they once could.

Paul persuades Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:8-9 to keep his focus on being Spiritually Fit for it is good for this life and the next. I know that it is easy to allow the cares and stresses of this life to fill up and push our time until we are so busy that we just don’t have time to workout – physically and spiritually. Isn’t it time to workout our faith, to follow hard after Jesus, and to persevere for the sake of the Gospel? Neglect will only allow us to grow into fat, stagnate, lethargic, complaining Christians with adult bodies but only baby muscles – powerless to do the work God has called us to do – ailing with aches and pains from sitting in our pews for way too long. I choose to exercise spiritually, to run the race that God has set before me - Hebrews 12:1-2! How about you?

Essentials for Life & 2010 part 1

So what is Essential for Life?

According the to the Morton HealthSystem in Arkansas there are six essentials for life. The Morter HealthSystem is a complete system of health care featuring the original sensory-specific technique called the Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique (B.E.S.T.); an astounding nutrition program based on acid/alkaline balance; and guidelines for the correct choices to make in the Six Essentials for Life.

• What you eat
• What you drink
• How you exercise
• How you rest
• What you breathe
• What you think

They site that our bodies were created to survive. How we survive depends on our conscious choices in the 6 Essentials for Life. If we make good choices, the response is health. If we make bad choices, the responses lead to pain, disease and death. It is a choice!

When reading these, I couldn’t help but think about our spiritual condition. In this New Year, 2010, I have decided that my health must be a priority, but not just my physical health. Perhaps more importantly my Spiritual Health needed to some serious evaluation. Perhaps our Spiritual Life does as well.

1. Evaluate What You Eat.
Our bodies are creatively complex creations. I am learning that my body needs a proper balance of certain types of food in order for me to feel and be healthy. In John 6:35-40, Jesus declared that He was the Bread of Life. The Great Balancer in your Spiritual Diet is Jesus Christ. When cravings come only Jesus will satisfy, because only Jesus offers what we cannot get on our own – Eternal Life. Spiritually what are we eating? Really? If we are stuck in consuming anything other than a healthy dose of Jesus Christ and His Word, then your health is at risk. We must partake in the real food that Jesus offers.

2. Evaluate What You Drink.

Our bodies are mostly water and need water as its primary liquid, and the body is designed to regulate itself internally. Drinking external stimulants puts added stress on our bodies and interferes with the regulation of blood sugar.

In John 4:10-15, Jesus offered water that was far better than any water found on earth to the Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s well. And in John 7:37-39, Jesus literally shouts to those who would listen – “Who wants some Living Water?” “Who wants to drink and never get thirsty again?” Who wants to taste and see that the Lord is Good? Who wants this Gift that will satisfy your deepest longings and desires? Jesus was offering the gift of the Holy Spirit and Eternal Life yet again. In the Samaritan Woman’s case, the living water would quench her longing for significance, love, acceptance, and intimacy. We have been created to satisfy our longings and all too often we reach for the sugary empty substitutes that only hinder our health and never truly satisfy. Let’s take a good long drink of Living Water today!