Food & Exercise
Scripture Reading - 1 Timothy 4:8 KJV
For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
We (ihlcc) decided in this lesson and the following series of lessons to approach the subject of “food”. In our first lesson we mentioned that God is the source for all good “food” so it is better to eat the “foods” already (previously) ordained by God. We highlighted the fact men will put profits ahead of people’s health so be disciplined in your eating and your selection of “food” because some “foods” are truly good for your body while other “foods” are not. In a previous lesson we discussed what our attitude should be about “food”. In short, the child of God ought to desire God’s Word over “food” because that is the proper perspective. We mentioned that not having natural food could cause starvation unto physical death but not having God’s Word, our spiritual food, will cause death physically and spiritually unto eternal death. Therefore it is in our best interest to consider “God’s natural food” secondary in comparison to “God’s Spiritual food” of His Word as our primary desire in life. In our last lesson we taught on knowing and eating your specific “Portion of Food”. Knowing your idea weight and the correct portions of food you need on a daily basis to maintain that weight is God’s Will for all people of the earth. In today’s lesson we will focus our attention to the indirect relationship between ”Food & Exercise”. The reason we stated indirect is because obviously you can eat well without exercising at all. However, many people who do “exercise” typically tie their training to their diet (eating habits). This is why we (ihlcc) thought that sharing some information in the general sense about the correlation between “food and exercise” might help someone who is improperly mingling the two. This misconception about “exercising” to lose weight is one problem that causes many people to become frustrated with dieting. In general “exercising” burns off calories but you can burn off as many calories as you like but if your eating is producing more calories than you are burning off you will not lose any weight, period. The truth is “exercising” is not the key to losing weight because the key to losing weight is eating less. “Exercising” is good for two separate things or maybe both if you desire to work that hard. “Exercising” will either develop strength of lungs (endurance) or strength of physical power (muscle) and maybe both if your training program (your workout) is designed that way. This is why it is so important to figure out what your goal is for “exercising” first because how can you start a race with no finish line in sight? Many people think that in order to lose weight I must “exercise” and since my schedule is so busy I don’t have time to “exercise” so why even bother with trying to lose weight. Dear, faith friend, “exercising” on a regular basis is good if you can enjoy yourself because doing the Will of God takes strength and God’s strength manifest through His Joy. For the Joy of the Lord is your strength according to Nehemiah 8:10c. The truth of the matter is only a few diet programs work and only a few exercising programs work. Why? You may ask, it is because the people involved with those programs typically lack three things. The three key ingredients many people lack for success is diligence, patience and inspiration. An elder said to a youth, “The walks with God are always long!” This means anything you do unto the Lord will be done over time, so there is no need to rush your thoughts or rush into a quick plan or try to rush the results. So when people come to us claiming to build Rome in a day, we instantly know the plan is outside of God’s long path. For the scripture states in Isaiah 28:16b KJV that, “he that believeth shall not make haste.” There is no rushing God or your natural body, if the baby take nine months to develop that’s life, anything less is premature. Patience is necessary; therefore you must possess the discipline to wait. Yes, if you are not a discipline person in prayer or spending time with God due to your busy schedule the odds are stacked against you that you would be diligent in “exercising” too. The key attribute of patience is often overlooked because this generation wants things now. At this time there is 24 hour access to current information so patience isn’t being developed in people, thus they are impatient. Many people would rather stay out-of-shape simply because the cost to stay-in-shape is too high. People do know that all “exercise” includes work over a certain duration of time. Yes, the kind of work that can make a man sweat, so who needs additional work three or more days a week when you already work hard during the week. Yes, very good point and this is why we (ihlcc) propose for you to find an “exercise” that suits your personality and an “exercise” that can bring you joy. Yes, you can find an “exercise” that is pleasurable if you want to (will to). Walking, swimming, jogging, weights, aerobics, etc…. God has a multitude to choose from, if you will? Most people work everyday but the difference is those that value their health over their job seem to be more dedicated to “exercise” than others (those who don’t). Yes they “exercise” for purpose and that generally means they “eat” with purpose too. In our own experience we could not have a “feel-good exercise” right after we over ate so we always purposed the day before to “eat” moderately (slightly below our daily portion) to ensure a “feel-good workout” the next day. So our “eating” impacted our “exercise” and vice-versa our “exercising” influenced (effected) our “eating”. So as we stated earlier the two are indirectly connected. However, we can tell you with assured boldness that many people lose weight without “exercising” at all. This means don’t tie losing weight to a certain exercise program but rather tie losing weight to “eating less food”. This is where inspiration from God is so important because many people today are caught up with having a personal trainer or having a life coach. We (ihlcc) believe for the Lord Jesus, in the person of the Holy Scriptures, to be our Trainer and the Holy Spirit to be our personal “Life Coach” or as we would say it, “Our Personal Eternal Life Coach”. Doing all things unto the Lord will draw out the Spirit of God to respond favorably to your situation when you need Him, sometimes we need just a little encouragement and other times we need a stern authority figure to pull the slack out of our ropes. A good coach and trainer will do both and we know of no one better than the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ. If the believer in God could only stay in communion with God for more than just two days a week they could accomplish great things in their life in the Grace of God through Jesus Christ. So stay focused on God because He Is our inspiration and be diligent and patient because good fruit takes time to grow. Purpose first to be right with your fellowship with God, then look to be diligent in consistency when “exercising and eating” and then be patient because in due season you will reap the benefits of “exercising regularly” and “eating right daily” to conform you into the very image and likeness of God. Simply because you are spending enough time with God to think like He thinks and those thoughts will grow into the fruit of diligence and patience to act like God acts and as a blood-bought child of God that is exactly who you should be in this world we live in and in the world to come in Jesus Name. Amen!