Anchored in Faith

2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Diet and exercise are hot topics today. Many of the best-selling books and highest profile online companies are those who offer help either with what we eat or how we move. Yet Christians don’t often think of the connection between diet and exercise and our faith.

     Have you ever tried to start an exercise routine or maybe even a new diet plan?  If you have, you know results won't happen overnight.  You probably also have learned that you can't jump into a full head on routine.  When you do you end up burned out and wanting to quit.  Or you get overloaded with new foods and end up back on your normal routines of eating and forget the diet.    

     When my husband had heart issues my daughter suggested we try a new diet and it fit into what our doctors wanted for him. It was great for a couple of weeks, and it helped my husband get into a safe target for his body, but it didn’t last. We jumped right in and cut out many foods he was used to eating and added a lot more of the same thing to his diet. After a couple weeks he was done. He was getting backed up way too easily and he felt worse than before. We learned quickly that eating better was helping him, but we had to move slower than we did and we had to find a balance that helped change his diet, but not completely change everything all at once.

     I do this with exercising. I know I should do more than I do, especially when I do nothing. I have even set easy routines for myself to do in the evenings. I always jump in ready to go and it lasts a few weeks, but then it’s back to my normal routine of rarely anything. I have tried to find a balance but it’s hard when I find reasons to, not do it, or I become ‘too busy’. It becomes easier to just do nothing and then where have I really grown in the process?

    I’ve learned that when adding anything new to your life you increase slowly.  If you like walking you don't do a 5K the first day.  You begin with a five-minute walk and a few days later increase it ten minutes and so on.  If you exercise, you don't go straight into Pilates or Yoga, you slowly increase your routine each time adding more moves.  Cut one dessert out before tossing all the sweets.  Add a new vegetable or meal once a week and build up to change. It is in the simple steps, slow and steady that you find yourself where you want to be with either a diet or exercising.    

     No matter the choice it's not instant, it takes time, increasing at your pace and what is good for you.  Our faith can be the same way.  Each week or day we increase our time with God.  First a few verses in the Bible, short passages then whole chapters.  Pray as long as you’re comfortable and add more time as you go.  Your faith will grow, and you will see more blessings each day.  Each day you can add the things 2 Peter speaks of which is all useful and productive in our knowledge and faith in Jesus. “Because you have these blessings, do your best to add these things to your lives: to your faith, add goodness; and to your goodness, add knowledge; and to your knowledge, add self-control; and to your self-control, add patience; and to your patience, add service for God; and to your service for God, add kindness for your brothers and sisters in Christ; and to this kindness, add love. If all these things are in you and are growing, they will help you to be useful and productive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But anyone who does not have these things cannot see clearly. He is blind and has forgotten that he was made clean from his past sins.  My brothers and sisters, try hard to be certain that you really are called and chosen by God. If you do all these things, you will never fall.” -2 Peter 1:5-10

     Diets are easy to figure out. Change how you eat, what you eat, and maybe the times you eat. Exercise can be just as simple. There are so many things to find on Google to help you target what you need to build your strength, muscles, or help your weight. It’s just a matter of taking them one day at a time, at a pace the works for you and builds you up. What about faith? There are so many things you have read or heard that you can and probably have put into practice a time or two. Or you may be jumping in for the first time and have been looking for something simple to get you started.

     Before we can build it, we need to understand it. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what isn’t seen (Hebrews 11:1). It is a gift from God given to every disciple (Eph. 2:8-9). It’s given in different amounts to each disciple (Romans 12:3). It is the foundation for both pleasing God (Hebrews 11:6) and fruit bearing (1 Peter 1:5-8). It is powerful, as just a little bit can move a mountain (Matt. 17:20) Finally, it is to be the framework through which a disciple lives (2 Cor. 5:7). And the only way to grow our faith is to abide in Jesus.

-        Hearing the Message: Faith grows as we immerse ourselves in the Word. Romans 10:17 makes this clear. It says, “Consequently faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.” In Jesus, the Word became flesh.  Hearing the message gets us to the core of Christ and He can help us develop a new way to see the world and how we can find faith.

-        Believing the Message: The enemy of faith is doubt. For our faith to grow we need to intentionally exercise belief in the message. When we believe, like Abraham, that God has the power to do what He has promised (Rom. 4:20-21), our faith grows. The more we believe the message, the more of the message we are able to believe.

-        Living the Message: Lastly, growing our faith is living it out. To live by faith we need to have faith, right? We must not only hear and believe but live our faith, not shrink back from it. Especially when life gets tough. Scripture says that the righteous will live by faith and not shrink back (Hebrews 10:38).

     When you round your life out with a healthy diet, good exercise and a spiritual compass you see your walk with Jesus grow and you will be able to stay the course without feeling overwhelmed or burned out.

     Your storms are an invitation to faith; an invitation to discover the peace that our Savior models in His rest. The faith that’s developed in the darkness, shines in the new day as we ask God to move mountains so the Kingdom can take root in your heart and life today.

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