How To Get Into Shape

We have now looked at the means to transform the heart. Next, we consider transformation of the body.

Our bodies are the delivery system of who we are. In a renovated life, our bodies have to be ready to do what is right, and hesitant to do what is wrong. Our bodies are not evil in themselves, but they sure get us in a lot of trouble! In the process of transformation, it may be the body that gets in the way most often.

Our bodies are given to us by God as a good thing. He honors our bodies so much he chose to come in a “body,” as Jesus. This is called “The Incarnation,” literally “taking on flesh.” Christianity does not teach the body is evil. There are other faith worldviews throughout  history that do, and so they teach we have to punish our bodies or pretend our bodies don’t exist, in order to achieve spiritual growth. Not so with Christianity.

At the same time, we don’t worship our bodies or give in to bodily desires, as is called for in some other religions. In fact, worship of the body may be one of the key “religions” or worldviews of modern society. At least, it looks that way in media and advertising. Future archeologists will think of our age as the time of the bare midriff, perfect butt, and “six-pack” abs.

The result of all this obsession with the body, and getting what we want through it, makes growing older a curse. All the dieting, exercise and plastic surgery in the world is not going to erase the fact that…

…we are all going to die.

Transforming our way of thinking about our bodies brings us to the path where our body is a servant rather than the master of who we are. It is the difference between a  bodily-focused life and a spiritually-focused life.

What are examples of when you were taught your body is “bad”?

All Christians are called to love our neighbor.

“Love God, and love your neighbor.”

A key way for us to take loving action is through acts of compassion in the world. Through the spiritual discipline of “service.” But this isn’t the same as volunteering for a local charity. Even though volunteering for a local charity can be part of a discipline of service. If this is confusing, well, welcome to my world.

When is service a discipline, when is it a Christian response, and when is it just doing good for the sake of another person, whether you are Christian or not? Let’s break these down.

People serving people- God is the source of all good, so when people who don’t follow Jesus serve, they do so within God’s realm. Human conscience alone will lift up many opportunities to serve.

Followers of Jesus following the example of Jesus- When we follow Jesus and learn from him, we become the kind of people who serve others naturally as a response to the love we are given by him.

Service as a discipline- Intentional acts of service, focused areas of service, hidden acts of service, are all specific ways to be expanded by the Holy Spirit and be more open to God’s power being an influence in the world.

When someone joins the armed forces, we say they are “in the service.” When they are discharged or retired, it is called, “getting out.” Well, when we join Jesus in the greatest mission of the galaxies, to be used by him to expand his Kingdom, we are “in the service” for eternity. We never “get out.”

How has serving expanded you?

Humans have been worshipping for at least 30,000 years or so. That’s the age of the oldest worship artifacts discovered by archeologists. Humans worshipped the sun, other stars, animals, even trees. While all of these are awesome creations, we know best to worship the Creator, not the creation. And the Creator is not some unknown god of nature, rather we worship the living God, revealed directly through Jesus.

When I give myself over to adoring God, it is a wonderful opportunity to get the focus off of me. This is the essence of worship. More Jesus…Less me.

Where to start:

• Attend worship- Make sure you worship weekly in a Christian community. This is a time set apart for us to show “whose team we are on,” and to encourage our “teammates.” Jesus lived the pattern of weekly worship. Why would I need it less?

• Music- This is the “heart language” for most of us. Listen to worship music everyday. …you choose the genre and artists. Hillsong United, David Crowder Band, or my own LIFEhouse worship posse are my usual worship music go to’s. Fill your car, room, or iPod with music that lifts up Jesus and his glory.

• Write down daily praises of your own in a journal. “God, I adore you because…” “Jesus, here are reasons I worship you today…” “Holy Spirit, I am blessed by you because…”

Find time for worship today…

Like other spiritual disciplines, fasting is shared by many religions. This spiritual discipline has an ample biblical witness from Moses to Jesus himself. 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil is a very well known event in Jesus’ life. So, what is the purpose of fasting?

Unlike fasting for political purposes, it is not to draw attention to yourself. Quite the contrary. When Jesus spoke of fasting he said,

Matthew 6:16
“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do…”

Fasting is to focus your mind, body, and spirit on Jesus. It isn’t meant to be difficult or painful. In fact, according to Jesus, you may be “eating” anyway (John 4:32). Fasting is most often abstaining from different items of food or drink, or a period of time without any food or drink, or just without food. Throughout the ages, Christians have tried a variety of fasts. Sunup to sundown, once a week for 24 hours, even strict fasts, like twice a week fasting from eating.

When you fast, you might have cravings, and this is a good thing. You fast to show yourself you don’t always get what you want. This focuses your attention on Jesus, the reason for the fast. This can be a spiritually sharp time to tune in to God. It’s also a time God may reveal a challenge in you which you need to address together. Take advantage of the opportunity.

Try it! I recommend a fast from dinner one night until dinner the next. During this time, still drink as it relieves dehydration headaches. Relish the cravings…Oh, no did I say relish? As in hot dogs?

Stop!

“My God is not my belly…”

“Repenting” Isn’t Always About Sinning…

Transforming the heart is the central vision of renovation, because the heart is where all choices are made. When you actually intend to surrender to God’s will in your life, your heart will try to figure out every way possible why you can’t or why you don’t need to. This will come out of your own nature; fueled by the tempting of the evil one.

This is why as you begin this heart “transplant,” don’t expect it to be easy. It is simple to understand and hard to do. What is necessary is to confess your need for transformation and to continue surrendering to God. In other words, “Repent.”

Now, “repentance” isn’t just about repenting from sin. To repent is to “change our thinking.” “Change our mind.” We repent from sin, indeed, but we also repent when we change direction to new focus in our lives.

God works with us along the way, and makes it more and more possible for us to actually participate with him. There are tools God has set up for transformation. Let’s look at some of these.

Silence and Solitude

“Jesus went out in the desert alone.”

”Lord, where did you go? We couldn’t find you.”

Before most major decisions he makes, as recorded in the Bible, Jesus spends time alone and prays. Why?

Silence and solitude are spiritual disciplines with a rich history. Spending time alone and quiet, speaking and listening to your loving Father, is refreshment for your very soul.

When he was younger, I asked one of our sons why he thought Jesus was so fond of being alone and he said, “To get away from all the sin for awhile.”

Like soldiers at war spending time alone before battle, it is good to get away for awhile. As followers of Jesus, we do battle with the forces of the Evil One.

And also with silence and solitude, we break from all the “busy-ness of business,” the ups and downs of our daily lives, and we begin to give them over to God. We are refreshed and renewed.

How do we do this? Here is one suggestion.

Start with 10 minutes or so at the end of each day, reviewing what happened. Go to a room alone or go for a walk and reflect on the day’s events. Review where you may need forgiveness from God, and pray what is on your mind. Then just spend time listening. After all, you wouldn’t talk to a friend about life and then when you were done, say, “OK, gotta go…”  This practice may turn into more than 10 minutes, but begin here and see what happens.

When can you get away daily and spend some time with your heavenly dad?

“Surrender” Isn’t Always a Bad Thing

God knows every person’s heart. He knows how we deceive ourselves. He sees us as we are, and is ready and able to transform us. This is the only way we can be saved from ourselves. God calls us us to a life of surrender, abandonment, contentment, and participation.

We “surrender” to God and place our complete confidence in him. If we try to hold anything back, renovation isn’t possible. It’s not that God couldn’t change us on his own, but for the sake of our precious freedom he wouldn’t. It’s time for us to surrender.

“Surrender” is not a term that denotes strength, obviously. Yet, in the case of dying to yourself and your own self-worship, into a life of self-denial, the one who surrenders is a giant. For years AA has used a slogan, “Let go; let God.” It is just as meaningful today.

Holding on to the “me” that isn’t really the “me” God designed me to be, well, that’s just plain foolish. We trust God enough to give up and now we are ready to go all the way. “Abandonment” means everything. Every part of who we are. We do this in fits and starts, but the more we give God from what holds us back, the more freeing this becomes.

We will then experience “contentment,” where we are satisfied with what we have and live lives knowing we are completely safe, immersed in God’s Kingdom reality. It doesn’t surprise us nor upset us when we don’t get our own way. We know God will carry out his plans. Our destinies are interwoven with those plans.

When we die to ourselves and live for God and others, God can trust us with his power. More and more he will use us to be beacons of hope and assurance in a world in desperate need of this. The things we do in our lives will look more and more like the things Jesus did when he was on earth. Yes, that kind of power!

It’s not that God doesn’t want us to have this power beforehand; it’s just that without transformed hearts, power without humility is dangerous. By transforming us, God invites us into this life of “participation.”

What is the greatest challenge you face? How do you want to face it?

Change Begins from the Inside

This is the central place for transformation to happen. The renovation of the heart. New life is possible with a change in “character” itself.

Character- Your internal structure that is revealed by your outward patterns of behavior.

Under times of stress and fatigue, our character reveals itself. This is not a widely known fact. We can try to live a positive, gracious image for others when things are going smoothly, but when pressure hits we can’t keep up the defenses. Who we are is exposed by our circumstances.

We have some renovating to do. How often do we say or do something hurtful and then apologize with this kind of line?

“I have been under a lot of pressure lately.”

We also see this line of thinking when someone lashes out violently and injures or kills someone. In the interview of a family member or neighbor you often hear this:

“He seemed like such a nice guy. I wonder what happened to him to cause him to snap like that?”

No, he was not a nice guy. He was someone who was skilled at hiding his dominating self-worship but got caught up in circumstances where his real character was exposed.

Why doesn’t God just force us to do good? Our freedom is what makes us so precious in God’s sight. It is a key part of being created in God’s image. God honors our freedom to choose. He will not force us to love him. Instead, through Jesus, God rescues us and our relationship with the Father can be restored.

We are not a lost cause. Under the power of the Holy Spirit, our true character can change for the good. This takes effort on our part, though we cannot change ourselves by the direct approach.

What excuses have you used concerning your character?

What Will Work to Transform a Life Based on Feelings?

1. Work on feelings that move you away from sin instead of trying not to sin

At the very earliest stages, focus on cultivating revulsion at the feelings you now have that are sinful, even if they don’t bother you. Along with this, focus on being attracted strongly to feelings of good, even if you don’t have those feelings to begin with.

Take anger as an example. I don’t simply try to avoid feeling angry. I begin to look at how unattractive I must appear when I am angry. I focus on the sense of uneasiness I have afterwards, and the uneasiness I see in others. At the same time, I have a vision of what it is like for people to be in my presence, where they are relaxed and comfortable.

2. Remove the underlying condition, not just the feeling

Why do I have the destructive feelings in the first place? What are the conditions that lead up to them? Let’s stay on the anger example.

What conditions lead to the anger? Perhaps it is a sense of privilege. If I think I deserve good things in my life and then they don’t go my way, I am offended by my circumstances. I lash out at whoever is around me. I begin to project my disappointment on anyone whom I perceive as a source of my “injustice.”

It’s time to move myself from the sense of privilege, and realize the whole world isn’t going to end if I don’t get my way.

3. Replacing the underlying condition; the feelings will take care of themselves

It isn’t enough just to remove the underlying condition that fuels the destructive feelings. In the anger example, it isn’t enough to try not to feel like I must always get my own way. I must replace those conditions with healthy alternatives.

One way to start is to set yourself up in situations where you practice deferring to others. For example, letting someone come into your traffic lane is a good place to start. If you live in an urban area especially, you can practice this every day. Of course, the person behind you may then have to start working on anger issues!

What is one destructive feeling you struggle with? What can you do to stop feeling that way?

1. Trying to take on our feelings directly

We don’t know the power of feelings if we think we can just face them directly with willpower. The direct approach at changing our mind at the spur of the moment is not helpful. If we are being strongly influenced by feelings of anger, fear, sexual attraction, the need for approval, ambition, and such, to just say, “Quit it!” to yourself, or to simply give in and allow your feelings to rule, “I can’t help how I feel,” well… There is a better way.

2. Denying our destructive feelings or pouring them out on others

It doesn’t do any good to ignore the fact we do have destructive feelings like anger, greed, jealousy, lust, and the list goes on. The Bible even has these lists in several places (e.g. Colossians 3:5-8). We can’t deny we have these sinful feelings and we can’t just try to keep them inside and then they will naturally go away. There is another way.

The other way is not to act these feelings out. We don’t give in to them and take it out on our others. We don’t scream at someone and then think, “Now, I feel much better.”

The way to transform destructive feelings is to replace them with helpful feelings. This is one of the central keys to living a transformed life. It is only under the partnership of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can become the kind of people who lose these awful feelings, and have feelings that are helpful to others as they build us up.

Think about an example when you used one of these methods.

Feelings are at the front of the line when it comes to our minds. People ask “How are you feeling today?”

Has anyone ever asked you, “How are you thinking today?”

Watching the news after a terrorist attack brings an unfortunate lesson in this focus on how one feels. Newscasters ask “experts” these kind of questions:

Why do you think the terrorists feel the way they do? What is causing them to feel that way about Western countries? What more can we do to understand why they feel the way they do?

No one asks the obvious.

What kind of thinking is the source of such diabolical actions? What are the ideas and images the terrorists use as their sources that fuel this type of response?

Feelings are absolutely necessary because they make us come alive and they drive our activities. We accept we have feelings and we learn to channel them in the right places and in the right way. Dallas says,

“Feelings can be good servants but they are a horrible master.”

So how do we work on a vision to transform our mind’s feelings? Next chapter, we start with what doesn’t work.

Think of an example when you started with feelings rather than thinking.