7 Spiritual Principles for Christian Weight Loss

Posted by Fit For Jesus! on September 26, 2009

Here are some spiritual principles to think about, pray about, and contemplate for successful Christian weight loss!

1. Realize your value.  Read Psalm 139:13-16 and truly discover in your heart how much God thinks about you, loves you, and cares for you.

2. Realize God’s sacrifice.  Read John 3:16 again.  And then read it again.  He did that for YOU.  He loves YOU!

3. Love yourself.  “Love your neighbor as yourself” originated from God, was repeated often by Jesus, and reinforced by Paul.

   Think about it:  it not only means that we are supposed to love others, but that we are supposed to ALREADY love ourselves!  GOD said so!

4. Forgive yourself:  others have messed up before you.  Moses murdered.  David committed adultery and sent a husband to his death.  Matthew was a thieving tax collector.  Paul persecuted and killed.  Thomas doubted.  Peter denied Jesus in His very presence.

   Last I checked, they all turned out ok.  You can, too, if you’ll just ask for God’s forgiveness and realize that He has forgotten about it, already.

5. Move on.  Eating yourself to death because of the past is not forgiveness (either of yourself or others), and it is a horrible, ungodly coping mechanism.

6. Forgive others.  Bitterness is stressful.  Chronic stress increases cortisol.  Cortisol leads specifically to increased abdominal fat and inflammation.  Abdominal fat and inflammation lead to heart attacks that kill prematurely.

7. Seek Him first.  Face it.  Life will be a struggle.  Stop seeking the world and seek Him, first.  “His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.”

It is a lot easier, and it becomes automatic to take care of your body (the temple of the Holy Spirit!) when you realize that you are valuable, God loves you, you are forgiven, you can forgive others, you can forgive yourself, you can move on, and you can love yourself as God commanded!

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Health, Fitness, and Reward in Heaven

Posted by Fit For Jesus! on June 11, 2009

At first, you may feel selfish.  I know I did.

When I first thought about the concept of becoming Fit For Jesus, getting healthy and more fit originated out of love and gratitude for His great sacrificial gift.  After all, God sent His own Son to die and literally be the punishment for our sins, so that we would not spend eternity separated from Him.  Once we realize the awesomeness and depth of God’s love, it compels us to do SOMETHING in return, right?

So, originally, becoming fit for Jesus was an act of thankfulness.  In addition, once we have received salvation through Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit resides in us, gently guiding us and teaching us, conforming us into His image.  The motive expanded from thankfulness to an act of honoring the Holy Spirit and taking care of His temple.  Either way, both of those motivators and reasons aren’t selfish and they give the glory and honor to God… but then a new motivation clicked inside my head as I listened to a sermon at church not too long ago.

I’ll need you to bear with me on this, while I explain the background. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

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Spirituality and Weight Loss Made Simple

Posted by Fit For Jesus! on May 27, 2009

“Simple” is good, especially when the goal is to get closer to Christ and/or lose weight.

Way too many people try to make a relationship with Jesus Christ difficult and complicated.  Weight loss and fitness is no different, proven by diets that require an exact percentage of macronutrients at each meal or exercise programs that require complex programming, sequencing, timing, etc.

Albert Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”  In other words, “simple” is good, but you must, at the very least, have the mandatory ingredients for success.

As with most topics in life, the application of a few basic, simple principles or skills will bring about the vast majority of your results.  If I had to summarize what I feel are the top 7 action steps you and I can do to get closer to Christ right NOW, they would be: WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

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Fitness, the Bible, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit

Posted by Fit For Jesus! on May 20, 2009

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post that excited ME like this one does!  So, after you’ve read this through and thought about it, be sure to leave a comment and let me know your valuable feedback!

In the first Fit For Jesus blog post, I mentioned the following scripture:

This is only the beginning, but what a clear beginning it is!  Our body is the literal, physical temple of the Holy Spirit. By taking care of our bodies, we are taking care of our wonderful Holy Spirit’s temple.  Our body is a gift from the Lord, and we should all, in a simple act of thankfulness and love, take care of our body and the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Are we required to? WAIT! There is more to read… read on »

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